ବାଲାଜୀ ଚାଲୀସା (ମେହଂଦୀପୁର)

The chalisa of Mehandipur Balaji, and it is worth reading for how plainly it says what that shrine is. Its fourth verse names all three of the presences there — Pretraj, the mighty Bhairav who serves as kotwal, and Hanuman himself, appeared as a boy. What follows is the practice: the dakini and the shakini and the jinn, the mashan and the churail and the bhoot, all of them fleeing; the fastenings cut; the bhopas at their work; the written petition laid before him. The offerings are named as they are made — laddu, churma, sugar-candy and dried fruit — and the sanctified water is carried home afterwards. Only in its later verses does it turn to the older story: the sun swallowed as a fruit, the leap across the ocean, the herb brought back for Lakshmana.