VARANASI, INDIA, February 17, 2009: The world’s smallest Hanuman Chalisa, a single centimeter square, will be offered for sale at the eight-day Industrial Handicraft Fair in Varanasi on Sunday.
The Lakhtakiya Hanuman Chalisa, a eulogy to the monkey-god worshiped by Hindus in northern India, comprises 45 pages and 22 pictures of different forms of Hanuman. The micro version contains everything that its pocket-sized cousin has.
Its creator, 57-year-old Raj Kumar Verma from Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, has practiced micro-painting for 33 years. “One has to use a magnifying glass to read it,” he said. “But this Hanuman Chalisa, which took six months last year to come into existence, will one day have an ardent Hanuman devotee buyer.”