Hanuman Temple
The monarchs of Orchha were great devotees of Lord Rama, the fabled
god-king who ruled over Ayodhya according to the ancient epic, the
Ramayana.
Orchha’s rulers built monuments in memory of virtually all the
important characters in the epic, and the Hanuman Temple is one such
sanctuary.
The Ramayana tells us that Kishkandhapuri was the place where Rama
first met the monkey, Hanuman, who belonged to the vanara race, or the
race that lived in a vana (forests). Hanuman became one of the
greatest devotees of Rama, and in time, was recognised as a god
himself.
The Hanuman Temple was built in 1717 by the then Orchha ruler, Raja
Sujan Singh. Apparently, the king was so impressed by a presentation
of Tulsidas’ epic poem, Rama Charitra Manas, that he decided to
erect all the prominent places mentioned in the epic, in Orchha.
Accordingly, the Hanuman Temple was built here, and idols of both
Rama and Hanuman were installed in it. The temple architecture is
similar to the architecture prevalent in many of the temples of South
India.
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