On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti – in a unique feat, over 7 lakh people prayed to Lord Hanuman and over 2 lakh listened to Hanuman Chalisa on the Sri Mandir app, India’s first App for devotional and spiritual practices, launched by start-up, AppsForBharat.
over 4 lakh people prayed to Lord Hanuman and over 7 lakh listened to the Hanuman Chalisa. This essentially makes Sri Mandir the largest virtual shrine of Lord Hanuman in India, by visitor count. The app acts as an enabler of faith by providing in-depth and verified content on various devotional practices and traditions.
Most of the users were from Noida, Gurugram, UP and MP, among others. Given that Hanuman Jayanti is one of the most important festivals of India, the company ran several programmes on their app which included options to offer chadavas, and laddoos to Lord Hanuman, through their digital services. They are also hosting special discourses by Muralidhar Maharaj.
With over 10M+ users across the country, the app is equipped with multi-language capabilities, including Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and Rajasthani, among others. As part of its ongoing devotee-outreach, Sri Mandir conducted a small survey among its users on why they listen to, or chant the Hanuman Chalisa. While most of them attributed it to their being devotees of Lord Hanuman, some of them mentioned that they prayed to the Lord to seek protection, for health and well-being, to overcome obstacles and for spiritual upliftment.
“In fact, we have seen a massive uptick in the number of users listening to the Hanuman Chalisa. While our user base predominantly consists of both millenials and gen-z’s, we aim to continue being a one stop solution for all your various devotional purposes across different generations. Our vision is to eventually assist a billion Indians in their spiritual and devotional journeys, and guide them on the path towards happiness, peace, and contentment” said Prashant Sachan – Founder & CEO, AppsforBharat (Sri Mandir)
“We are not competing with physical places of worship. Our aim is to support the daily devotional habits of our users. We are complementing them by way of online services, such as providing authentic information regarding puja vidhi, enabling users to choose from a vast library of pujas for varied intents, and offering easy access to mantras and devotional literature. In fact, we support various temples from across the nation by streaming live darshans for our users,” he adds.
Most Indians not only have a shrine at home, but they also keep photos of deities and create mini pooja spaces in their cars, workplace, and other oft-frequented places. Sri Mandir brings this devout behaviour into the online space, wherein a digital mandir is built into the device that is with us 24×7 – the mobile phone.
Another USP of Sri Mandir is the curation of a customised user experience based on the choice of deity. This includes intuitive suggestions vis-à-vis bhajans, literature, aarti sangraha, stotra, and mantras featured in the app. For verified information regarding upcoming vrats and kathas pertaining to the vrat, Sri Mandir’s Mahabhandar section is the go-to place. It is armed with extensive literature on diverse devotional subjects, including rituals and auspicious timings on a daily basis, as well as for upcoming festivals.
A lot of thought and research has gone into the app to provide services that are intrinsic to our culture and traditions. This is the reason that Sri Mandir has garnered so many followers in the short period since its inception. The company is constantly evolving and customising its offerings to cater to the diverse devotional and spiritual practices of Indians across the country.