Aarti
The Hindu ceremony of light, in which a flame is circled before the deity.
The ceremony of light. A worshipper or priest circles a flame, usually a ghee or camphor lamp, clockwise before the deity while bells sound and hymns are sung; the flame is then often brought to those present as a blessing. Temples may perform aarti several times a day, and it closes many home pujas and festival gatherings.
Aarti is the ceremony of light. A worshipper or priest circles a lamp, usually ghee or camphor, clockwise before the deity while bells sound and hymns are sung. The flame is then often carried to those present, who pass their hands over it and touch them to their eyes or head, taking the blessing from the light itself.
It closes most home pujas and most festival gatherings, and large temples perform it several times a day on a fixed schedule. Where it happens at a river, as at the evening ceremonies on the Ganges, it draws crowds who are there as much to watch as to worship.
It is the most immediately legible Hindu rite to an outsider, because what it consists of is visible: fire, sound, and a crowd facing one direction.
Does it have a text?
The hymns sung during aarti vary by deity, region and temple, and many are in regional languages rather than Sanskrit. There is no single aarti text, and no fixed wording that could be printed as the aarti.
Terms on this page
- murti
- A consecrated image or statue through which a deity is present to worshippers; from the Sanskrit for form or embodiment, and not accurately translated as idol.
- aarti
- The lamp ceremony: a flame circled clockwise before the deity to bells and hymns, then often shared with worshippers as a blessing; performed daily in temples.
When it comes up
Other forms of prayer in Hindu
- Puja — Ceremonial Hindu worship offered to a deity at a home shrine or in a temple.
- Darshan — Seeing and being seen by the deity, and the main point of most Hindu temple visits.
- Mantra and japa — Sacred sound as a devotional medium, and counted repetition of a formula or divine name.
- Bhajan and kirtan — Devotional song, and the shared call-and-response singing of divine names.
- Vrata — A vowed Hindu observance, most often a fast kept on days tied to a chosen deity.
This page describes a practice. It does not tell you how to perform it, or whether you should. Practice varies by region, community and household far more than a page like this can carry, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed anything here. The full dossier names its sources.