Om jai Lakshmi mata maiya jai Lakshmi mata
Om, victory to Mother Lakshmi. Mother, victory to Mother Lakshmi.
tumko nisdin sevat Har Vishnu Vidhata
Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma serve you night and day.
ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माताOm Jai Lakshmi Mata
The aarti sung to Lakshmi, especially on Diwali night, in simple Hindi with an old story about the churning of the ocean tucked inside it.
Sung by Anuradha Paudwal · T-Series Bhakti Sagar on YouTube
It plays from YouTube, so ads may appear.
Tap any word for its meaning.
The refrain
The stanzas
Uma Rama Brahmani tum hi jag mata
You are Uma, Rama and Brahmani. You are the mother of the world.
Surya Chandrama dhyavat Narad rishi gaata
The Sun and the Moon meditate on you, and the sage Narada sings of you.
Durga roop niranjani sukh sampatti daata
In the form of Durga, you are spotless, and you give comfort and wealth.
jo koi tumko dhyavat riddhi siddhi dhan paata
The aarti says whoever meditates on you receives prosperity, success and wealth.
tum Patal nivasini tum hi shubh daata
You live in the underworld too, and you alone give what is good.
karma prabhav prakashini bhav nidhi ki trata
You bring to light the effects of what people do, and you rescue them from the ocean of worldly life.
jis ghar mein tum rahtin sab sadgun aata
In the home where you live, all the virtues arrive.
sab sambhav ho jaata man nahin ghabraata
Everything becomes possible and the mind doesn't panic, the aarti says.
tum bin yagya na hote vastra na koi paata
Without you no sacrifice takes place, and no one gets clothes to wear.
khaan paan ka vaibhav sab tumse aata
All the abundance of food and drink comes from you.
shubh gun mandir sundar Kshirodadhi jaata
Beautiful home of all good qualities, you were born from the Ocean of Milk.
ratna chaturdash tum bin koi nahin paata
Without you, no one gets the fourteen jewels.
The churning of the ocean
Gods and demons churn the Ocean of Milk for the nectar of immortality. Many wonders rise from it, and Lakshmi is one of them. She chooses Vishnu. 'Fourteen jewels' is the usual later way of counting what emerged; the older texts do not all give the same list.
Source: Bhagavata Purana, Book 8; Vishnu Purana, Book 1
Mahalakshmi ji ki aarti jo koi jan gaata
Whoever sings this aarti of the great Lakshmi,
ur aanand samaata paap utar jaata
the aarti says, finds their heart full of joy and their wrongdoing falling away.
Ask your elders
“On Diwali night when you were small, who led the Lakshmi aarti, and did your family sing any line differently from what is in the book?”
About the Om Jai Lakshmi Mata
- Language
- Hindi
- Attributed to
- Traditional, author unknown
- Period
- Date unknown
- Verses
- 8
An aarti is sung while a lit lamp is circled before a deity. This one is sung to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and good fortune, most famously at the Lakshmi Puja on Diwali night and also in many homes on Fridays.
Nobody knows who wrote it or when. Its tune and pattern resemble Om Jai Jagdish Hare, but that doesn't date it. Wording varies between printings, more than most people expect: words change, and the stanzas appear in different orders and numbers. The version here is one common form, not the only correct one.
The Hindi is easy, but some words are Sanskrit religious vocabulary, and a few lines assume you know the story of the churning of the ocean. Some lines promise wealth or peace of mind to whoever sings it. We translate them and mark that it is the aarti speaking. The refrain returns after every stanza; we print it once.
Sources
- Traditional aarti; text as commonly printed in Hindi aarti collections, with no critical edition known to us
- Bhagavata Purana, Book 8
- Vishnu Purana, Book 1