Chalisa

Chalisa

“a verse from forty lines”

Chalisa (translated from Hindi "chālīs" means "forty") – a poem of praise or prayer text, comprising 40 parts addressed to a Deity. Chalisas are used for ritual purposes, daily religious rites, as well as a protective mantra – kavacha. The numerical value of the forty parts of the poem is symbolically associated with the Vedas, correlating with the ten mandalas of the Rig Veda and with the four Vedas Samhitas.

The first and most important text in this genre is Hanuman-Chalisa, written in Awadhi (one of the dialects of Hindi) by the poet-bhakta Tulsidas. Subsequently, by analogy, other chalisas appeared that became popular in various Hindu directions: Shiva-chalisa, Goraksha-chalisa, Durga-chalisa, Krishna-chalisa, etc.