मार्गदर्शन
Guides
How the texts in the library are used, and where they come from: guides for the day, step by step, and essays on the background. Each names its sources.
दिनक्रमFor the day
- दिवेलागणEvery evening Evening at the lamp: Śubhaṃ Karoti and the parvachāWhat Maharashtrian homes say when the lamp is lit at dusk: Śubhaṃ Karoti, the stotras children recite after it, and the old parvachā of multiplication tables.
- लक्ष्मीपूजनDiwali Lakṣmī pūjā at home: the texts, in orderHow Maharashtrian homes worship Lakṣmī on Dīvāḷī night, step by step, and which texts are said at each step, from the Śrī Sūkta to the āratīs.
- घटस्थापनाNavratri Navrātri at home: the ghaṭasthāpanā and the nine daysHow Maharashtrian homes keep Navrātri: the ghaṭasthāpanā on the first day, the sprouting grain and the lamp that burns for nine days, the daily garland and āratī, and the close on Navamī.
पार्श्वभूमीBackground
- साडेतीन शक्तिपीठेEssay The three and a half seats of the GoddessMaharashtra counts three and a half seats of the Goddess: Mahālakṣmī at Kolhapur, Tuḷjā Bhavānī at Tuḷjāpūr and Reṇukā at Māhūr, with Saptaśṛṅgī at Vaṇī as the half. What each is, and what is known of it.
- वेदपाठEssay How the Vedas were memorisedHow Vedic reciters kept every syllable and accent unchanged without writing: the three accents, the word-by-word padapāṭha, and the braided krama, jaṭā and ghana recitations, with the Gāyatrī as the example.
- आरतीEssay How a Marathi āratī is builtThe parts of a Marathi āratī: the refrain sung after every stanza, the poet’s name in the last line, and the order a household sings them in, with examples from Sukhkartā, Durge Durghaṭ Bhārī and the Mahālakṣmī āratī.
- संतEssay The poet-saints of MaharashtraFive poet-saints whose words are still sung in Maharashtrian homes: who they were, what they wrote, which of their texts are in the library, and where the dates are uncertain.
- ओवी आणि अभंगEssay Ovī and abhaṅg: the measures of Marathi devotional poetryHow the ovī and the abhaṅg are built, why the Dnyāneshwarī is written in ovīs and Tukārām’s songs in abhaṅgs, with the Pasāydān and Ghālīn Loṭāṅgaṇ as examples.
- कीर्तनEssay Kīrtan: the Nāradīya and Vārkarī traditionsHow a Marathi kīrtan is performed: the learned Nāradīya kīrtan with its pūrvaraṅg and uttararaṅg, and the Vārkarī kīrtan of abhaṅgs sung to ṭāḷ and mṛdaṅg.
- पाठभेदEssay Why the same āratī reads differently from book to bookHow the texts sung at home change as they pass from voice to voice and from page to page, with examples from the library, and how Shlokpath decides which reading to give.
- नवरात्र आणि दसराEssay Navrātri and Dasarā: what the nine nights and the tenth day meanWhat Navrātri celebrates, the story of the Goddess and Mahiṣa in the Devī Māhātmya, how Maharashtra keeps the nine nights, and why Vijayādaśamī is a day for beginnings, with its āpṭā leaves, śamī and sīmollaṅghan.