ମଂଗଳାଗୌରୀଚୀ ଆରତୀ

The Marathi arati of the Mangala Gauri vow, kept by newly married women on the Tuesdays of Shravana, and it is more interested in the equipment of the rite than in the goddess. The lamps are of jewels, the wicks of rubies, the flames of diamonds, and the tray is gold. The offerings are counted out by sixteens, since sixteen is the vow's number — sixteen wicks, sixteen durva shoots, sixteen kinds of leaf — and then the flowers are named one by one, jasmine and abuli and chrysanthemum and champak and parijata. One verse gives the cooking: rice and mung dal made into a plain unsalted khichadi by the women, who are doing all of it for their husbands' sake. The last verses have the goddess herself bathed, dressed in silk, and seated to be worshipped.