The text
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- Stanza
- Stanza 1
शेंदुर लाल चढ़ायो अच्छा गजमुख को।दोंदिल लाल बिराजे सुत गौरिहर को।हाथ लिए गुडलद्दु सांई सुरवर को।महिमा कहे न जाय लागत हूं पद को॥
śendura lāla caḍhāyo acchā gajamukha ko।dondila lāla birāje suta gaurihara ko।hātha lie guḍaladdu sā̃ī suravara ko।mahimā kahe na jāya lāgata hū̃ pada ko॥
You are anointed with red vermilion, good elephant-faced one — the red-bellied son of Gauri, seated in splendor. In your hand you hold a jaggery sweet, O lord of the gods; your greatness cannot be told, and I bow low at your feet.
- Refrain
- Refrain (Dhrupad)
जय जय श्री गणराज विद्या सुखदाता।धन्य तुम्हारो दर्शन मेरा मन रमता॥
jaya jaya śrī gaṇarāja vidyā sukhadātā।dhanya tumhāro darśana merā mana ramatā॥
Glory, glory to you, lord of the ganas, giver of knowledge and joy — blessed is the sight of you, and my heart delights in it.
- The 2 stanzas
- Stanza 2
अष्टौ सिद्धि दासी संकट को बैरी।विघ्नविनाशन मंगल मूरत अधिकारी।कोटी सूरजप्रकाश ऐसी छबि तेरी।गंडस्थल मदमस्तक झूले शशिबिहारी॥
aṣṭau siddhi dāsī saṅkaṭa ko bairī।vighnavināśana maṅgala mūrata adhikārī।koṭī sūrajaprakāśa aisī chabi terī।gaṇḍasthala madamastaka jhūle śaśibihārī॥
The eight siddhis wait upon you as your handmaidens, and you are the enemy of every trouble — destroyer of obstacles, bearer of the auspicious form. Your radiance shines like millions of suns, and the moon itself seems to play at your musth-streaked temples.
- Stanza 3
भावभगत से कोई शरणागत आवे।संतत संपत सबही भरपूर पावे।ऐसे तुम महाराज मोको अति भावे।गोसावीनंदन निशिदिन गुण गावे॥
bhāvabhagata se koī śaraṇāgata āve।santata sampata sabahī bharapūra pāve।aise tuma mahārāja moko ati bhāve।gosāvīnandana niśidina guṇa gāve॥
Whoever comes to you in loving devotion and takes refuge finds constant prosperity, ever in full measure. Such a great lord you are, and so dear to me — Gosavinandan sings your praise, day and night.
Overview
Shendur Lal Chadhayo (“vermilion has been offered”) is an aarti to Ganesh, its three stanzas each followed by the same refrain — “Jai Jai Shri Ganaraj, Vidya Sukhadata,” “Glory to the lord of the ganas, giver of knowledge and joy” — so a full recitation runs to four sung parts even though the composition itself is built from three verses. It is one of the aartis most commonly sung at the close of a Ganesh puja, especially during Ganesh Chaturthi, and in some Hindi-language devotional collections it is titled specifically as the aarti of Siddhivinayak, one of Ganesh’s best-known forms.
Origin and source
The aarti’s authorship is not definitively established. Its closing stanza carries a poetic signature in its final line — “Gosavinandan nishidin gun gave,” “Gosavinandan sings your praise day and night” — a convention common to devotional verse of the era, in which a poet identifies himself, here plausibly as a disciple or descendant of a Gosavi, within the composition’s own closing words, in a manner similar to how the Marathi aarti Sukhkarta Dukhharta closes with its author Samarth Ramdas’s own signature wordplay. Unlike Sukhkarta Dukhharta, the text of Shendur Lal Chadhayo reads as Hindi carrying some older Brajbhasha-influenced forms, such as “tumharo” and “moko,” rather than Marathi vocabulary, though it is grouped with the Marathi Ganesh aartis in Maharashtra’s devotional practice and sung as part of the same daily sequence.
How it is recited
Shendur Lal Chadhayo is sung with its refrain repeated after each of the three stanzas, typically to a harmonium or hand cymbals, with a lit aarti lamp circled before Ganesh’s image as the verses are sung. In Maharashtra it is commonly sung immediately after Sukhkarta Dukhharta, the two aartis together forming part of the standard sequence of Ganesh aartis recited at the daily close of puja and throughout the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi.
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