Have you ever visited Lord Hanuman’s temples? Did you see that his idols are always painted orange? It strikes the question why is Lord Hanuman orange.
Lord Hanuman is one the characters of the classic story Ramayana. He is a devotee of Lord Rama and helps Lord Rama in his pursuit to save the goddess Sita from her kidnapper. Lord Hanuman is actually a monkey with many powers. In his young age, he was cursed to forget about his powers because he was so powerful. During the Ramayana, Hanuman remembered who he actually was and then helped Rama save Sita.
The story of Sindoor
(The reason Hanuman is orange)
One day, Lord Hanuman saw the goddess Sita applying her root of hair with sindoor powder. Not knowing what this was, Hanuman asked Sita to explain why she was applying this. Sita explained that the reddish orange powder is called sindoor. It is applied on married women’s foreheads to help their husband live a long life. Sita told Hanuman that she wears sindoor in order to bless Rama with a long life.
Hanuman, hearing this, covered his entire body with this red colored powder, sindoor. Rama and Sita were confused watching this and asked him why he decided to cover his entire body in sindoor. Hanuman replied that Sita told me that applying sindoor everyday will bless you (Rama) into living a healthy life. That’s why he’s done it too! He says that, since Sita is a goddess, she doesn’t need a lot of sindoor but he would need much more. This is why Hanuman is orange in many temples.
Throughout Hanuman’s stories, he shows his devotion and love towards Rama, just like in this story. This story shows the importance of adding sindoor (red colored powder) in Hinduism. Now, you know the reason behind Hanuman’s orange color and why women traditionally wear sindoor.
