Hanuman Garhi is the most famous Hanuman temple in Ayodhya City. The temple was built in the 10th century and is very ancient. This temple has the most exquisite statue of Hanuman and devotees from all walks of life come to pray to the monkey lord Hanuman. One has to climb 76 steps to reach the inner sanctum of the temple. There is heavy security and police surveillance in and around the temple, one has to go through metal detectors to reach the idol. There are many large brass bells that adorn the temple. There are many sweet shops selling Ladoo’s which is bought by many as Prasad and like everyone I also picked up a box of Peda to offer to the lord Hanuman.
I also got my forehead painted with orange and red tika with the words Rama inscribed on my forehead. There is always a huge crowd, and one has to jostle through the throng of devotees, but the visit is worth it.
Hanuman Garhi Mandir
The temple walls are adorned with old photographs of past Mahant’s and priests who had run the temple and done daily prayers and performed Pooja at the temple. I did manage to get a glimpse of the fabulous statue of lord Hanuman, but it was only for a fleeting moment due to a huge rush we did not get as much time to admire the idol of the monkey god but I still managed to get a few pictures. The afternoon heat however was getting to me, I was sweating like hell and almost all my t shirt was drenched and wet.
The best part was that I managed to get myself photographed with the current Poojari and mahout of the temple and that as fun. The temple is open from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm for visitors. One should wear red and orange colors when one visits the temple as these are the colors of lord Hanuman. The Temple also has an idol of a toddler hanuman sitting on the lap of his mother Anjali.
There are over 8000 temples and math’s in Ayodhya, but this temple stands out due to its idol and scale.
