General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Prayer
• Language: Marathi
• Country: India

Informant Data:

The informant is an Indian woman who wrote out the aarti with her pundit and recites it every Ganesh Chaturthi.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The informant sings the aarti with her family during Ganesh Chaturthi. The pundit leads the aarti and she reads off her sheets with him.
• Cultural Context: The aarti is performed twice a day for the duration the idol is in the house. It is a devotional song sung by the people in praise of Lord Ganesh.

Item:

A picture from the informant of the aarti performed during Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the aarti the informant’s family has used for many years and the informant translated it to English for our collection.

Associated file:

Transcript of Associated File:

“Lord who provides joy, removes sadness and clears all obstacles in life,

Who gives love to everyone as his blessing,

Who has saffron fragrance over his body,

Who has a necklace of pearls around his neck,

Hail the God, Hail the idol,

All our wishes are fulfilled by Darshan,

Offering you a seat with jewels for the son of Gauri,

Smearing you with sandalwood paste and Tilak on your head,

Diamond crown suits you,

Whose anklets tingle on his feet,

Hail the God, hail the idol,

Lambodar (Big Tummy) who wears Pitambar (cloth),

Who has straight trunk and is an ego breaker and son of Shiva,

I am waiting for you in my home like a devotee,

Please help us and protect us during bad times,

Hail the God, hail the idol.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant’s aarti is written in Marathi, but is translated into English for this project and the translation is in the transcription above.

Collector’s Comments:

This prayer has been in the informant’s family for many years.

Collector’s Name:

Celine Guan and Yohann Curmully

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Verbal Folklore