bhagavān kailāsavāsī kī āratī

The Hindi aarti to Shiva as the dweller on Kailasa, sung standing with the lamp circling, and built entirely on things a room can picture without effort. Nandi and Bhringi are dancing; the gods, that heap of happiness, hold their meditation — and then the refrain returns, victory to the dweller on Kailasa. The verses that follow keep to the same plain furniture of the Shaiva imagination: the ash, the serpent, the moon in the matted hair, the Ganga, the tiger skin, the trident. There is no theology in it and no Sanskrit compound; what it has instead is a tune that carries, which is what an aarti is for. Sung most often on Mondays and at Mahashivaratri.