Hanuman Temple, there is a gentle giant in the New Delhi traffic

Passing by car on the main road, one day of several years ago, I suddenly bumped into it and felt like a tiny thing at the feet of a giant, even if it was still surrounded by bamboo poles, barely sketched. Today, for many years now, it looks like this but, surprise, it's not a statue, it's a temple.

Perhaps some of you who have visited Delhi will have happened to see it suddenly appear while traveling engrossed on the subway between the Jhandewalan and Karol Bagh metro stations, on the Blue line: if one does not have his eyes fixed on his mobile phone or does not turn his back on it, can't miss it.

Those familiar with Hanuman will have occasionally seen a representation of him that might seem grim; the idol that, with both hands, opens his own chest at heart level, is the representation of an iconic moment from the Ramayana, one of the greatest Indian epic poems, in which Hanuman shows how Lord Rama lodges inside him, exactly in his heart.

 Rama and Sita located in the heart - Rama e Sita nel cuore di Hanuman

But the particularity of this temple goes beyond its size and its unusual shape, in fact every Tuesday, the day dedicated to Hanuman, at the Aarti (the evening prayer) suddenly the fingers of the hands begin to move in the gesture of opening the chest and the icons of Rama and Sita (wife of Rama) appear for darshan, the opportunity to be seen by everyone present.

To enter the Temple one passes on the tongue of a Rakshas, a demo, whose mouth, wide open to exhale his last breath, is the entrance. This is one of the many demons that faithful Hanuman defeated in serving God Rama.

Once inside there are several rooms and niches also dedicated to other deities and there is also a path in a goofa, which is an underground corridor, where there are beautiful altars with other colored statues.

During the Hanuman Jayanti festival, the God's birthday, the temple tuns into one of the liveliest centers for celebrations, as well as comes alive for other holidays such as Ram Navami, Rama's birth day, Shivratri, the union between Shiva and Parvati, the moment in which the masculine and feminine energies are perfectly balanced, Navaratri, the period of celebrations in honor of Durga and Janmashtami, Krishna's birthday.

 Bramin and the main Hanuman's icon
Il bramino e l'incona principale di Hanuman

To those who are not familiar with India and Hindu temples this may seem almost a joke, compared with a Baroque or, worse still, Romanesque church, but if you are familiar, it won't sound too strange because here everything is always rather “over the top”; this is also the case in Hinduism and it is not unusual to end up in the midst of rituals that are anything but moments of recollection, a mixture of sacred and profane, in noise and total confusion, among food, gadgets and sandals scattered everywhere.