The Eleven Pīṭhas of Hanumān (Hanumān-pīṭha)

 

The most distinctive part of the Hanuman tradition is the mention of eleven sacred seats (pīṭha, puṇyasthāna) associated with Hanumān (Hanumān), reminiscent in style of Śakti-pīṭha-s (Śaktipīṭha) and Jyotirliṅga-s (Jyotirliṅga). These places are said to be specially sanctified by the presence and grace of Vāyuputra (Vāyuputra).  Parashara Samhita Patala 37 verses 39 to 41describes these places

कुण्डिनं नाम नगरं श्रीभद्रं कुशतर्पणम् ।
पम्पातीरं चन्द्रकोणं काम्भोजं गन्धमादनम् ॥
ब्रह्मावर्तपुरं चैव नैमिषारण्यमेव च ।
सुन्दरं नगरं चैव रम्यं श्रीहनुमत्पुरम् ॥
एतानि वायुपुत्रस्य पुण्यस्थानानि नित्यशः ।
यः स्मरेत् प्रातरुत्थाय भुक्तिं मुक्तिं च विन्दति ॥

kuṇḍinaṃ nāma nagaraṃ śrībhadraṃ kuśatarpaṇam |
pampātīraṃ candrakoṇaṃ kāmbhojaṃ gandhamādanam ||
brahmāvartapuraṃ caiva naimiṣāraṇyameva ca |
sundaraṃ nagaraṃ caiva ramyaṃ śrīhanumatpuram ||
etāni vāyuputrasya puṇyasthānāni nityaśaḥ |
yaḥ smaret prātarutthāya bhuktiṃ muktiṃ ca vindati ||

Meaning

“There is the city named Kuṇḍina (Kuṇḍinaṃ nāma nagaram), there is Śrībhadra (Śrībhadra) and the sacred Kuśatarpaṇa (Kuśatarpaṇam); the river-bank of Pampā (Pampātīra), Candrakoṇa (Candrakoṇa), Kāmbhoja (Kāmbhoja), and Gandhamādana (Gandhamādana); Brahmāvarta-pura (Brahmāvartapuram), and also Naimiṣāraṇya (Naimiṣāraṇyam); then Sundara-nagara (Sundaraṃ nagaram) and the delightful Śrī-Hanumat-puram (Śrīhanumatpuram).

These are eternally (nityaśaḥ) the holy seats (puṇyasthāna) of Vāyuputra (Vāyuputra), Hanumān. Whoever remembers them every day in the early morning after rising (prātar utthāya), obtains both enjoyment (bhukti) and liberation (mukti).”

In this way the verse presents eleven names—Kuṇḍina, Śrībhadra, Kuśatarpaṇam, Pampātīram, Candrakoṇam, Kāmbhojam, Gandhamādanam, Brahmāvartapuram, Naimiṣāraṇyam, Sundaranagaram, and Śrīhanumatpuram—as special kṣetra-s (kṣetra) under the grace of Hanumān (Hanumān). The sādhaka (sādhaka) is enjoined to bring them to mind daily as a manasīka-yātrā (manasīkayātrā), a pilgrimage of remembrance, with the assurance of both worldly well-being and ultimate spiritual freedom.

Pīṭhas that can be located with high confidence:

1. Kuṇḍina-nagara → Kaundinyapur / Kundinapura, Amravati district, Maharashtra.

2. Pampā-tīram → Pampā-tirtha on Tungabhadra at Hampi/Anegundi, Karnataka (Kiṣkindhā). 

3. Gandhamādanam → traditionally both

   • Himalayan Gandhamādana north of Kailāsa (mythic residence), and

   • Gandhamādana Parvatham at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Hanuman’s leap point. 

4. Brahmāvartapuram → Bithoor (Brahmavarta), on the Ganga near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. 

5. Naimiṣāraṇyam → Naimisharanya / Neemsar, Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh. 

Pīṭhas whose region is clear but exact spot is not:

6. Kāmbhojam → ancient Kamboja region in the north-west frontier / Hindukush–Gandhara–SW Kashmir belt, not a single town

7. Kuśa-tarpaṇam → Kuśa-tarpaṇa-tīrtha of Brahma-purāṇa tradition, somewhere in the Vindhya-north, Gomatī–Praṇītā area; exact modern village unknown. 

Pīṭhas whose identity is not confirmed from sources:

8. Śrībhadram – no solid evidence tying it to Bhadrachalam or elsewhere.

9. Candra-koṇam – phonetic similarity to Chandrakona (W. Bengal), but no explicit traditional link as a Hanuman-pīṭha.

10. Sundara-nagaram – appears only as a name; modern Sundaranagaram localities (e.g., Ongole) are not traceable back to Parāśara in any documented way.

11. Śrī-Hanumat-puram – no reliable mapping to a present-day town.

For these four, the only honest answer is: the pīṭha-names exist in Parāśara-saṃhitā and later devotional writing, but their specific modern geo-identification is not clearly documented in accessible sources.