Samarth Ramdas was a saint, poet, philosopher and writer.
These two Lord Ganesh’s aarti songs are quite popular and are performed by many during the pujas.
The festivities of Ganesh Chaturthi have begun with much pomp across the country. Crowds gathered to get a darshan of Lord Ganesha at various pandals. People in many states celebrate Ganeshotsav with full enthusiasm. They also bring idols of Lord Ganesha to their homes to worship him and do aarti of the elephant-headed God.
Ganesha is usually worshipped before beginning a new venture or business or before the ritual of any pooja. Lord Ganesha is also known as Vighanharta, remover of obstacles. You can appease Him by worshipping him with devotion and it is believed in return, he blesses his devotees and ends their troubles. Due to his elephant head, he is referred to as Gajanan and for his huge stomach, he is called Lambodar. You may have noticed that while worshipping Lord Ganesha, two aartis are quite popular. One aarti is Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh Deva and the other is Sukhkarta Dukhharta Varta Vighnachi, both sung with profound devotion to Lord Ganesh.
But do you know who has written this aarti?
As per the information available, both the aartis are composed by Samarth Ramdas, the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is believed that the Saint-poet-philosopher, Samarth Ramdas was inspired to write the aarti after he saw the Mayureshwar form of Lord Ganesha at the Morgaon Temple, which is the main temple of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage circuit that comprises of eight Ganesha temples in Pune.
The purpose of the aarti is to express devotion to the Vighnaharta. People bring home Ganesha for ten days and when the festival culminates with his immersion or visarjan into a water body, people believe that he takes away all the troubles with him.
Who was Samarth Ramdas?
Samarth Ramdas was born as Narayan Suryajipanta Thosar wrote the aarti of Lord Ganesha. He was born in Jamb in present-day Jalna district of Maharashtra. Samarth Ramdas taught the youth about the nation’s development through various meditation practices and exercises. He is also responsible for the installation of Lord Hanumanji in many places.
