ଅଂବାବାଈଚୀ ଆରତୀ (ସୁଖସଦନେ ଶଶିଵଦନେ)

The Marathi aarti of Ambabai — Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur, one of the great Shakti seats of the Deccan — sung standing before her image with the lamp circling. It opens on a run of rhymed vocatives that carry the whole tune: abode of happiness, moon-faced, mother, doe-eyed, elephant-gaited, bowed to by the gods, dweller in Kolhapur. The rhyme is internal and unbroken, which is what makes a Marathi aarti singable by a room full of people who have not read the words, and the verses that follow keep it up while moving through her ornaments, her lion, and the demons she has ended. It is Kolhapur's own aarti rather than a general Lakshmi one, and the town is named in the first two lines.