Marathi Aarti
The Set That Always Ends the Same Way
“Jai dev, jai dev — and then, always, Ghalin Lotangan.”
About Marathi Aarti
The Marathi aarti tradition is one of three distinct regional aarti traditions, and it is the one most often collapsed into the North Indian pattern by English-language sources. It differs in almost every respect. Its refrain is jai dev jai dev, returning after every verse rather than opening each one. Its metre and melodies are its own and owe nothing to the Om Jai Jagdish Hare template. Its major texts are securely attributed to named poets of the Varkari and allied traditions — Namdev, Dnyaneshwar, Eknath, Tukaram and Samarth Ramdas — rather than being anonymous or contested. And most importantly, a Marathi aarti is almost never sung alone: aartis are performed as an ordered set, deity by deity, and the set always closes with Ghalin Lotangan, itself a composite of a Marathi abhang and several Sanskrit verses. This page describes the tradition as it is actually practised rather than text by text.
Capabilities
Explain how the Marathi aarti tradition differs from the North Indian one
Describe the aarti set and the order it is customarily sung in
Explain Ghalin Lotangan as a composite closing rather than a single text
Introduce the Varkari poets whose work the corpus draws on
Explain the Jai Dev refrain and the dhrupad marking in printed texts
Point to the individual Marathi aarti texts covered on this site
Core Teachings
The Refrain Comes After, Not Before
Jai dev jai dev returns as a fixed chorus at the end of every verse. The North Indian aartis instead open each verse with an Om Jai formula carrying the deity's name. It is the single quickest way to tell which tradition a text belongs to, and it is audible before a word is understood.
Aartis Are Sung as a Set
Not one song but a sequence, performed in order: Ganesha first, then commonly Shiva, the Goddess, and Vitthal or Datta according to the household or the temple, closing with Ghalin Lotangan. Presenting any single Marathi aarti as a standalone piece misrepresents how it is used.
Ganesha Opens, Because Ganesha Always Opens
Sukhkarta Dukhharta comes first because Ganesha is invoked before any undertaking. This is also why a Maharashtrian puja can have a Ganesha aarti at its start as well as its end — the common English claim that aarti closes worship describes North India, not here.
The Poets Are Known
Namdev in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Dnyaneshwar in the thirteenth, Eknath in the sixteenth, Tukaram and Samarth Ramdas in the seventeenth. Where the North Indian aartis are anonymous or contested, much of the Marathi corpus has secure attribution to major literary figures.
Ghalin Lotangan Is Five Things
A Marathi abhang signed by Namdev, followed by the Sanskrit tvameva mata, the kayena vaca verse from the Bhagavata, the achyutam keshavam litany, and the Hare Rama mantra. It is a stitched liturgy, not a poem — and nobody singing it experiences it as five separate items.
Abhang Is the Underlying Form
The Varkari devotional lyric is the abhang, a short Marathi verse form used by Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram across an enormous surviving corpus. The aartis sit inside that literature rather than beside it, which is why they carry names and dates that North Indian aartis do not.
Pandharpur Is the Centre
The Varkari tradition is organised around Vitthal at Pandharpur and the wari, the pilgrimage on foot that converges there twice a year. Several of the aartis in the standard set are addressed to Vitthal, and the singing heard on the wari is the same repertoire in motion.
Mantrapushpanjali Ends It
In many temples and households a Sanskrit mantrapushpanjali follows Ghalin Lotangan as the actual final item, sung standing with folded hands. It is Vedic in register and sits oddly and deliberately at the end of a sequence of vernacular songs.
Sacred Practices
The Evening Aarti Set
The full sequence sung at the close of the day at a household shrine or temple — Ganesha, then others by custom, then Ghalin Lotangan and often mantrapushpanjali. Duration depends on how many deities the household keeps.
Ganesh Chaturthi
Sung morning and evening for the days a Ganesha image is installed, at home and at public pandals, with dhol and tasha and very large crowds. The most visible form the tradition takes.
The Wari to Pandharpur
Aartis and abhangs sung on the pilgrimage on foot to Pandharpur, twice a year, by groups walking in formation over many days. The repertoire in transit rather than at a shrine.
Datta and Navnath Traditions
Aartis to Dattatreya and within the Nath lineages form their own sub-repertoire, sung on Thursdays and at Datta shrines, and frequently included in the household set in families that keep them.
Shirdi Sai Liturgy
The four daily aartis at Shirdi — Kakad, Madhyan, Dhoop and Shej — are a full liturgical cycle rather than free-standing songs, and they draw on the Marathi tradition while belonging to a sampradaya with its own literature.
Sacred Symbols
The Jai Dev Refrain
The fixed chorus that returns after every verse, and the audible marker of the tradition. Printed Marathi texts mark it with the abbreviation for dhrupad, the held refrain, so the page itself tells the singer where to come back to.
The Aarti Set
The sequence rather than the song as the unit of practice — deity by deity in a customary order, always closed the same way. What is being performed is a shape, not a text.
Ghalin Lotangan
The full prostration named in its first words — ghalin lotangan, I throw myself down full length. A composite closing that binds Marathi devotion to Sanskrit liturgy in one continuous piece of singing.
The Vitthal Image
Standing on a brick, hands on hips, waiting — the posture the Varkari tradition organises itself around, and the figure several aartis in the standard set address.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a Marathi aarti different from a Hindi one?
The refrain comes after each verse rather than opening it — jai dev jai dev rather than an Om Jai formula. The melodies and metres are its own and owe nothing to the Om Jai Jagdish Hare template. Its major texts have secure authors. And it is sung as an ordered set that always closes with Ghalin Lotangan, rather than as a single song.
What does 'Jai Dev Jai Dev' mean?
Victory, god, victory — followed by the deity's epithet, as in jai mangalmurti for Ganesha. It returns unchanged after every verse, which lets a gathering that does not know the verses still sing along. Printed Marathi texts mark it with the abbreviation for dhrupad, the held refrain.
In what order are Marathi aartis sung?
Ganesha first, always, because Ganesha is invoked before any undertaking. After that the order follows the household or the temple — commonly Shiva, the Goddess, Vitthal or Datta — and the set closes with Ghalin Lotangan, frequently followed by a Sanskrit mantrapushpanjali. Details vary; the opening and the closing are the fixed points.
What is Ghalin Lotangan?
The closing item of a Marathi aarti session, and a composite rather than a single poem. It opens with a Marathi abhang signed by Namdev, then moves through the Sanskrit tvameva mata, the kayena vaca verse from the Bhagavata, the achyutam keshavam litany and the Hare Rama mantra. Nobody singing it experiences it as five separate pieces.
Why does every Marathi aarti session end the same way?
Because Ghalin Lotangan functions as a closing formula for the sequence rather than as an aarti to any particular deity. Whatever the session began with, it ends there. It is one of the clearest structural differences from the North Indian tradition, which has no fixed closing item at all.
Which are the main Marathi aartis?
Sukhkarta Dukhharta for Ganesha, by Samarth Ramdas, which opens almost every set. Lavthavti Vikrala for Shiva and Durge Durghat Bhari for the Goddess, both also attributed to Ramdas. Yuge Atthavis for Vitthal, associated with Namdev. And Ghalin Lotangan, which closes.
Who are the Varkari poets?
The saint-poets of the Vitthal devotional tradition centred on Pandharpur: Dnyaneshwar in the thirteenth century, Namdev in the thirteenth and fourteenth, Eknath in the sixteenth, and Tukaram in the seventeenth. Samarth Ramdas, also seventeenth century, belongs to an allied but distinct strand. Their surviving work is very large.
What is an abhang?
The short Marathi devotional verse form used across the Varkari corpus, and the literary form the aartis sit inside. It is why the Marathi aarti tradition carries authors, dates and manuscript traditions in a way the anonymous North Indian aartis do not.
Is Marathi aarti sung at the beginning of a puja?
The Ganesha aarti often is, as well as at the close. Because Ganesha is invoked before any undertaking, a Maharashtrian puja may open with Sukhkarta Dukhharta and close with the full set. The widely repeated statement that aarti comes at the end of worship describes North Indian practice rather than a universal rule.
What is mantrapushpanjali?
A short Sanskrit offering of flowers with mantras, sung standing with folded hands at the very end of the sequence in many temples and households. Its Vedic register sits deliberately at the close of a run of vernacular songs, and it is often the actual final item rather than Ghalin Lotangan.
Why is Ganesh Chaturthi so central to this tradition?
Because since 1893, when Tilak reorganised the festival as a public street event, it has been the most visible occasion in the Maharashtrian religious calendar. Sukhkarta Dukhharta is sung at pandals by very large crowds with dhol and tasha, which is how most people outside Maharashtra now encounter the tradition.
Are the Shirdi Sai Baba aartis part of this tradition?
They draw on it, and they are in Marathi, but the four daily aartis at Shirdi — Kakad, Madhyan, Dhoop and Shej — form a full liturgical cycle tied to the hours of the day rather than a set of free-standing songs. They belong to a sampradaya with its own substantial literature and are best treated separately.
Do I need Marathi to sing these?
No. Aartis are learned by ear, standing next to people already singing them, and large numbers of non-Marathi speakers sing them at Ganesh pandals every year. A good deal of the detail is invisible without the language, particularly in a seventeenth-century text like Sukhkarta Dukhharta, but nothing restricts who may sing.
Sources & Citations
- The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra, Eleanor Zelliot and Maxine Berntsen (eds.) (State University of New York Press, 1988)
- Palkhi: A Pilgrimage to Pandharpur, D.B. Mokashi, trans. Philip C. Engblom (State University of New York Press, 1987)
- Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram, trans. Dilip Chitre (Penguin Books India, 1991)
- Maharashtra and the Varkari movement (Encyclopaedia Britannica) (accessed 2026-09-06)
- The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, C.J. Fuller (Princeton University Press, 2004)
Further Reading
- The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra — Eleanor Zelliot and Maxine Berntsen (eds.)book
- Palkhi: A Pilgrimage to Pandharpur — D.B. Mokashi, trans. Philip C. Engblombook
- Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram — trans. Dilip Chitrebook
- Sukhkarta Dukhhartaarticle
- What is aarti?article
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