आरती

The lamp and the song

The word names both the act and the song. A lamp, a niranjan or a tray of wicks and camphor, is waved in circles before the image while the household sings, keeping time with clapping hands, cymbals and a bell.

Stanzas and the refrain

A Marathi āratī has a few short stanzas, कडवी, and a refrain, the ध्रुवपद, sung after each one. Sukhkartā has three stanzas, each followed by its refrain. The refrain is the part everyone knows, and often what the āratī is called: many people know Sukhkartā simply as ‘Jay Dev’.

Sukhkartā’s refrain

जय देव जय देव जय मंगलमूर्ती ।
दर्शनमात्रे मनकामना पुरती ॥

Some āratīs open with the refrain: the Mahālakṣmī āratī is printed with जय देवी जय देवी जय महालक्ष्मी at its head, and sung that way.

• सुखकर्ताSukhkarta Dukhharta
• महालक्ष्मीची आरतीMahalakshmi Aarti

The poet’s signature

The last line usually carries the poet’s name, the नाममुद्रा or name-seal. Sukhkartā ends with दास रामाचा, ‘the servant of Rāma’, Rāmdās’s own name in other words. Nāmdev’s verse that opens Ghālīn Loṭāṅgaṇ ends म्हणे नामा, ‘says Nāmā’, and Tukārām’s abhaṅgs end तुका म्हणे.

The last line of Sukhkartā

दास रामाचा वाट पाहे सदना । संकटीं पावावें निर्वाणीं रक्षावें सुरवरवंदना ॥

The last line of Durge Durghaṭ Bhārī

अंबे तुजवाचून कोण पुरविल आशा । नरहरि तल्लीन झाला पदपंकजलेशा ॥

The signature is often the best evidence of who wrote a text, and sometimes it complicates the story. Durge Durghaṭ Bhārī is signed Narahari, though it is popularly credited to Rāmdās; the Mahālakṣmī āratī is signed Mukteshwar, and no source we have found says which Mukteshwar. The library says so on each page rather than choosing.

• दुर्गे दुर्घट भारीDurge Durghat Bhari
• घालीन लोटांगणGhalin Lotangan

The order of an āratī

When several āratīs are sung together, Gaṇeśa’s comes first, as every pūjā begins with him; then the āratīs of the household’s other deities. In most homes every āratī, whatever the deity, closes with Ghālīn Loṭāṅgaṇ: a verse of Nāmdev’s, then Sanskrit verses gathered from older sources. Many homes then say the Mantrapuṣpāñjali.

• घालीन लोटांगणGhalin Lotangan

Not yet in the library: Mantrapuṣpāñjali

Who wrote them

Many of the best-loved Marathi āratīs are credited to Samarth Rāmdās, who composed Sukhkartā. Others carry the names of poets about whom little else is known, like Narahari and Mukteshwar, and many carry no name at all.