Sheetala Mata Aarti – Jai Sheetla Mata Lyrics, Meaning & Healing Grace
Sheetala Mata Aarti Lyrics (हिंदी में)
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
आदि ज्योति महारानी, सब फल की दाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
रतन सिंहासन शोभित, श्वेत छत्र भाता।
ऋद्धि-सिद्धि चँवर ढुलावें, जगमग छवि छाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
विष्णु सेवत ठाढ़े, सेवें शिव धाता।
वेद पुराण वरणत, पार नहीं पाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
इन्द्र मृदङ्ग बजावत, चन्द्र वीणा हाथा।
सूरज ताल बजावै, नारद मुनि गाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
घण्टा शङ्ख शहनाई, बाजै मन भाता।
करै भक्तजन आरती, लखि लखि हर्षाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
ब्रह्म रूप वरदानी, तुही तीन काल ज्ञाता।
भक्तन को सुख देती, मातु पिता भ्राता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
जो जन ध्यान लगावे, प्रेम शक्ति पाता।
सकल मनोरथ पावे, भवनिधि तर जाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
बाँझ पुत्र को पावे, दारिद्र कट जाता।
ताको भजै जो नाहीं, सिर धुनि पछताता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
शीतल करती जननी, तू ही है जग त्राता।
उत्पत्ति व्याधि बिनाशन, तू सब की घाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
दास विचित्र कर जोड़े, सुन मेरी माता।
भक्ति आपनी दीजै, और न कुछ भाता॥
ॐ जय शीतला माता, मैया जय शीतला माता।
आदि ज्योति महारानी, सब फल की दाता॥
Sheetala Mata Aarti – Transliteration (English)
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Aadi jyoti maharaani, sab phal ki daata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Ratan sinhaasan shobhit, shwet chhatra bhaata.
Riddhi-Siddhi chanwar dulaaven, jagmag chhavi chhaata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Vishnu sevat thaadhe, saven Shiv dhaata.
Ved Puraan varnat, paar nahin paata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Indra mridang bajaavat, Chandra veena haatha.
Sooraj taal bajaavai, Narad Muni gaata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Ghanta shankh shahnaai, baajai man bhaata.
Karai bhaktajan aarti, lakhi lakhi harshata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Brahma roop vardaani, tuhi teen kaal gyaata.
Bhaktan ko sukh deti, maatu pita bhraata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Jo jan dhyaan lagaave, prem shakti paata.
Sakal manorath paave, bhavnidhi tar jaata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Baanjh putra ko paave, daaridr kat jaata.
Taako bhajai jo naaheen, sir dhuni pachhataata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Sheetal karti janani, tu hi hai jag traata.
Utpatti vyaadhi binashan, tu sab ki ghaata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Daas vichitra kar jode, sun meri Maata.
Bhakti aapani deejai, aur na kuchh bhaata.
Om Jai Sheetla Maata, Maiya Jai Sheetla Maata.
Aadi jyoti maharaani, sab phal ki daata.
Meaning & Significance
Sheetala means the cool one, and this aarti is pervaded by the sense of a fever breaking, of heat dissolving before a divine coolness that flows from the goddess's very presence. The opening salutation hails her as Aadi Jyoti Maharani - the primordial light, the supreme queen - anchoring a seemingly folk deity within the framework of cosmic sovereignty. Each verse adds a layer: Vishnu and Shiva in attendance, Indra playing drums, the Moon plucking the vina, the Sun keeping rhythm while Narada sings - the entire universe is assembled in her worship. The final verse is a masterpiece of Bhakti humility: the devotee named Vichitra (meaning the wonderstruck one) asks for nothing except bhakti itself, the love that has no other goal than love.
About Sheetala Mata
Sheetala Mata is the goddess of cooling, healing, and the prevention and cure of heat-related ailments including fever and smallpox. Traditionally depicted riding a donkey, carrying a broom, a waterpot, and a winnowing fan, she embodies the principle of purification through coolness - spiritual, emotional, and physical. She is widely revered across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, with her principal shrine at Sheel ki Dungri near Chaksu in Rajasthan. A unique feature of her worship is that offerings are made in the form of cold, pre-cooked food (basoda) rather than freshly prepared items - a tradition that encodes an entire ecological wisdom about preserving health during the transition from winter to summer.
Benefits of Reciting the Sheetala Mata Aarti
- Invokes the goddess's cooling grace to pacify inflammatory conditions, fevers, and heat-related distress in the household.
- Protects children from illness, as Sheetala is specifically the guardian of children's health in the folk tradition of North and West India.
- Grants the gift of children to those experiencing difficulty in this area, as the aarti specifically mentions the barren receiving a son through her grace.
- Removes poverty and material want (daaaridr kat jaata - poverty is cut away) when recited with faith on Sheetala Saptami or Ashtami.
- Bestows all desired wishes (sakal manorath) and helps the devotee cross the ocean of worldly existence (bhavnidhi tar jaata).
- Develops pure devotion as its own reward, mirroring the final verse's request for bhakti rather than any specific material outcome.
How to Perform the Aarti (Pooja Vidhi)
- On Sheetala Ashtami or Saptami, prepare cold basoda (pre-cooked food from the previous day - rice, roti, vegetables) as the primary offering; no new fire is lit on this day in traditional households.
- Set up the puja space with an image of Mata Sheetala; offer cold water, cold milk, and a small broom - items associated with the goddess's iconography - along with cool seasonal fruits.
- Notably, the aarti is performed without lighting a flame on Sheetala Ashtami; instead, incense alone is offered, honouring the no-fire principle of this particular worship.
- Hold the aarti plate - containing the incense and cold water - and move it gently before the deity while reciting the aarti.
- Ring the bell as per usual puja custom; in some regional traditions the conch is also blown at the beginning and end.
- Distribute the cold basoda as prasad to all family members; the tradition of eating cold food on this day aligns the entire household with the goddess's cooling energy.
Best Day & Time to Recite
Sheetala Saptami (the seventh day after Holi) and Sheetala Ashtami (the eighth day after Holi) are the primary annual festivals dedicated to this goddess, observed most widely in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and northern India. The aarti is performed in the pre-dawn hours on these days before any fire is lit in the kitchen. In daily practice, the goddess is propitiated on Sundays (which are associated with the Sun, whose heat she is invoked to moderate) and on any day when fevers or heat-related illness are a concern. The lunar month of Chaitra (March–April), when summer heat begins to build, is the most important seasonal period for Sheetala Mata worship.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is no fire lit on Sheetala Ashtami during her worship?
The prohibition on lighting a fire on Sheetala Ashtami is a religious injunction that also encodes practical wisdom: by eating only cold food prepared the previous day, the household honours the goddess of coolness and simultaneously adopts a cooling diet at the beginning of the hot season. The no-fire rule transforms the kitchen into a sacred space governed by the goddess's own temperament - cool, calm, and healing.
What is basoda and why is it offered to Sheetala Mata?
Basoda refers to food cooked the previous day and kept cold overnight. The offering of wholesome cold food to Sheetala Mata is unique in Hindu worship and symbolises the goddess's acceptance of the humblest, most ordinary offering with the same grace with which she would receive elaborate preparations. It also reflects the folk wisdom that Sheetala herself consumes cool offerings as part of her nature as the antidote to fever and heat.
Is Sheetala Mata the same deity as Sitala in Bengal?
Yes. Sheetala (North India) and Sitala (Bengal and the eastern states) are the same goddess, worshipped across a vast region with minor regional variations in iconography, festival timing, and offerings. In Bengal she is closely associated with the monsoon and epidemic prevention, while in Rajasthan and Gujarat her worship is centred on the spring–summer transition. The core identity - goddess of cooling, healer of fever, protector of children - remains consistent across all regional expressions.
The cooling grace of Sheetala Mata in season and spirit
Sheetala Mata - whose very name means "the cool one" - is honoured across North and Western India as the compassionate goddess who governs fever, inflammation, and the ailments that arise from excess heat in the body and the season. Her aarti, Jai Sheetla Mata, is not a hymn of fear but an expression of tender surrender to a maternal power that soothes. Devotees traditionally sing it with particular fervour during the spring months when seasonal illnesses are most prevalent, and the great occasion of Sheetala Ashtami - falling on the eighth day after Holi - draws millions to her shrines. On that day, devotees offer basi (previously cooked, cold food) as prasad, a unique practice symbolising the extinguishing of heat and the renewal of the body's balance.
The mood the aarti evokes is shanta rasa - serene, quieted, surrendered. Sheetala Mata is typically depicted riding a donkey, carrying a broom and a pot of cool water, and her iconography alone teaches the devotee something important: the sacred is not always found in grandeur, but often in quiet, practical care. Devotees believe that singing her aarti with a clean heart invites the goddess's protective presence into the home, especially for children and those who are unwell. In the bhakti tradition, this hymn is understood as a mother's lullaby offered upward - from daughter or son to Divine Mother.