Om Jai Jagdish Hare

The story

"Om Jai Jagdish Hare" is a Hindu religious song in Hindi, written by Shardha Ram Phillauri and dedicated to the god Vishnu. It is sung during arti (aarti), the rite in which an oil lamp or a camphor flame is circled before a murti, the image of a god.

Although addressed to Vishnu, it is sung at arti for many gods. Joyce Flueckinger and Paul Brians call it a "universal aarti", and Om Lata Bahadur notes its use for gods as different as Krishna, Ganesha and Murugan. Jacqueline Hirst and John Zavos record it being sung in places as far apart as New Delhi, Toledo and Leicester.

Its wide popularity came through cinema. In the 1952 film Anand Math its refrain was joined to another hymn, the Govinda Damodar Stotram of Bilvamangala Thakura, and in Purab Aur Paschim (1970) it stands for the continuity of Indian tradition before and after independence. After that film it became so popular that it entered temple worship, and it has been called a "film arti" and a "national arti", sung on any religious occasion. By the late 1980s it was associated with young, educated people whose ideas of ritual owed more to Hindi cinema than to local religious tradition. It has gone on appearing in films, among them Baghban (2003), where it is sung by Udit Narayan and Sneha Pant.

What it says

A devotional hymn praising Vishnu as lord of the universe and asking for his protection and grace. The mood is joyful and reverent, made for singing together.

The words

The words of this song are in the public domain, but no free, reliable edition of them has been found yet to import them from, and the Institute never types a song’s words from memory. “What it says” above tells what they are about.