When it is sung
Sung at the end of Ganesha puja — daily in many homes, and every morning and evening through the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi. It is conventionally the first of the sequence of aartis, followed by others and closed with Ghalin Lotangan.
- Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganpati sthapana; the first aarti of the season
- Anant Chaturdashi
Visarjan day
Full text, with meaning
Each line of the verse, with its romanisation beneath and what the verse says after it.
Verse 1
सुखकर्ता दुखहर्ता, वार्ता विघ्नांची ।
Sukhkarta dukhharta, vaarta vighnaanchi
नुरवी; पुरवी प्रेम, कृपा जयाची ।
Nurvi; purvi prem, krupa jayaachi
सर्वांगी सुंदर, उटी शेंदुराची ।
Sarvangi sundar, uti shendurachi
कंठी झळके माळ, मुक्ताफळांची ॥१॥
Kanthi zhalke maal, muktaphalanchi
Meaning
He brings happiness and carries sorrow away; where there is news of obstacles, he does not let it remain. He fills the devotee with love, and the grace is his. He is beautiful in every limb, anointed with vermilion, and a string of pearls gleams at his throat.
Dhrupad — the chorus, repeated after every verse
जय देव, जय देव जय मंगलमूर्ती ।
Jai dev, jai dev jai Mangalmurti
दर्शनमात्रे मन कामना पूर्ती ॥धृ॥
Darshanmaatre man kaamna poorti
Meaning
Victory to the god, victory to Mangalmurti — the auspicious form. The sight of him alone fulfils the desire of the mind.
Verse 2
रत्नखचित फरा, तुज गौरीकुमरा ।
Ratnakhachit phara, tuj Gaurikumara
चंदनाची उटी, कुमकुम केशरा ।
Chandanachi uti, kumkum keshara
हिरेजडित मुकुट, शोभतो बरा ।
Hirejadit mukut, shobhato bara
रुणझुणती नूपुरे, चरणी घागरिया ।
Runzhunati nupure, charani ghaagariya
जय देव जय देव जय मंगलमूर्ती ॥२॥
Jai dev jai dev jai Mangalmurti
Meaning
A jewel-set ornament adorns you, son of Gauri. Your brow is anointed with sandalwood, kumkum and saffron; a diamond-studded crown sits well on you; and the anklets at your feet chime softly as you move.
Verse 3
लंबोदर पीतांबर, फणिवरबंधना ।
Lambodar Pitambar, phanivarbandhana
सरळ सोंड, वक्रतुंड त्रिनयना ।
Saral sond, Vakratunda trinayana
दास रामाचा, वाट पाहे सदना ।
Daas Ramacha, vaat pahe sadana
संकटी पावावे, निर्वाणी रक्षावे, सुरवरवंदना ।
Sankati paavaave, nirvaani rakshaave, survarvandana
जय देव जय देव, जय मंगलमूर्ती ।
Jai dev jai dev, jai Mangalmurti
दर्शनमात्रे मन कामना पूर्ती ॥३॥
Darshanmaatre man kaamna poorti
Meaning
Broad-bellied and robed in yellow silk, girded by the lord of serpents; straight of trunk, curved of face, and three-eyed. Ramdas, your servant, waits at your door. Come to me in crisis, protect me at the last, O one whom the gods themselves honour.
About this aarti
Samarth Ramdas (1608–1682) is said to have been moved to compose this aarti on seeing the image of Mayureshwara — a form of Ganesha — at the Morgaon temple near Pune, the first and principal shrine of the Ashtavinayak circuit of eight Ganesha temples.
It is set in raga Jogiya. Like other aartis, it is written in the vernacular rather than in Sanskrit: aartis were meant to be sung by everyone present at the close of worship, while the plate of lit wicks is circled before the image.
Ganesha here is addressed with a striking range of names and attributes for a poet whose own chosen deity was Rama, not Ganesha — a point the art historian Pratapaditya Pal has remarked on. The poet signs the last verse himself: “Ramdas, your servant, waits at your door.”
The third verse describes Ganesha as three-eyed. A third eye is not usual in Ganesha iconography, but it is present on the Ganesha at Morgaon — the very image that prompted the composition.
Beyond the traditional tune sung in homes, the setting recorded by Lata and Usha Mangeshkar in the 1970s made the aarti familiar far outside Maharashtra. Anuradha Paudwal later recorded it, and a version appears in the film Bajirao Mastani.
A note on the text
The Marathi weekly Lokprabha notes that नुरवी (nurvi) in the first verse is very often mispronounced as नुर्वी. The verse text here follows Marathi Wikipedia; the vertical bars used there as line dividers are rendered as the danda (।) they stand for.
Sources
These texts are in the public domain. The verse is reproduced from the cited source; the English meaning and the background notes on this page are original writing.