Hanuman Chalisa, Chaupai 9

Meaning of “sūkṣma rūp dhari siyahiṁ dikhāvā”

"sūkṣma rūp dhari siyahiṁ dikhāvā" is Chaupai 9 of the Hanuman Chalisa, which Tulsidas wrote in Awadhi. It means: Taking a tiny form, you showed yourself to Sita. Taking a fearsome form, you set Lanka on fire. Read it slowly, one half at a time, and say the Awadhi aloud.

सूक्ष्म रूप धरि सियहिं दिखावा ।बिकट रूप धरि लंक जरावा ॥sūkṣma rūp dhari siyahiṁ dikhāvābikaṭ rūp dhari laṅk jarāvā

Taking a tiny form, you showed yourself to Sita. Taking a fearsome form, you set Lanka on fire.

Tulsidas, Hanuman Chalisa, Chaupai 9, Gita Press reading

Word by word

सूक्ष्मsūkṣma
tiny
रूपrūp
form
धरिdhari
taking
सियहिंsiyahiṁ
to Sita
दिखावाdikhāvā
showed
बिकटbikaṭ
huge, fearsome
रूपrūp
form
धरिdhari
taking
लंकlaṅk
Lanka
जरावाjarāvā
burned

Where this happens in the Ramayana

He enters Lanka in a form as small as a mosquito, later comes down from the tree to stand near Sita, and when his tail is set alight he grows huge yet light and leaps from roof to roof as the city burns.

मसक समान रूप कपि धरी। लंकहि चलेउ सुमिरि नरहरी॥

Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand 5.3, chaupai 7

तब हनुमंत निकट चलि गयऊ। फिरि बैठीं मन बिसमय भयऊ॥

Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand 5.11, chaupai 10

देह बिसाल परम हरुआई। मंदिर तें मंदिर चढ़ धाई॥

Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand 5.24, chaupai 1

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Sources and method

Awadhi text: Goswami Tulsidas, Gita Press reading, checked against three Gita Press printings and Rambhadracharya's Mahaviri. English meaning and word glosses: Wisdom's own, following the traditional reading, edited by Ankur Shukla.