Lord Krishna

śrī śyāmasundara jī kī āratī

(Shree Shyamsundar Ji Ki Aarti in English (IAST))

Hita Harivamsha

Also known as shyamsundar ji ki aarti · ji ki aarti · arati kije syamasundaraki

Three couplets, and the whole of the aarti is assembled out of abstractions rather than objects. Perform the aarti of Shyamsundar, Nanda's son and Radhika's groom — and then it names the implements: make devotion the lamp and love the good wick, and let the keeping of holy company be the day and the night of it. Nothing is lit that a room would recognise. The third couplet says who it pleases, which is the young women of Vraja, and then signs itself: Hita Harivamsha sings the play of Shyam. That signature places the song in the Radhavallabha tradition, where Radha is approached first and the aarti is offered to the pair as she is understood to hold them.

āratī kīje śyāmasundarakī |
naṃdakumāra rādhikābarakī||
bhakti dīpa kara prema subātī|
sata-saṃgati kara anudinarātī||
ārati brajayuvatī mana bhāvai|
śyāmalīlā hitaharibaṃsa gāvai||
|| iti saṃpūrṇaṃm ||

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