Om Jai Jagdish Hare — Harmonium Notes

Om Jai Jagdish Hare is the aarti nearly every North Indian household sings, written by Shraddha Ram Phillauri in the 1870s and long in the public domain. It is also one of the most natural first bhajans on harmonium: the whole opening line sits on Sa, dips one key below it, and comes back — you learn bellows control and the geography around Sa in a single phrase.

The aarti in sargam, line by line

Sa is on C. Ṇ is the Ni one octave below Sa — the white key immediately to the left of where you start, and Ḍ is the Dha below that. Each ▶ plays just that line; turn on 🐢 Slow while learning.

Sthayi — the refrain

Antara — the verse

This is the melody every remaining verse uses. Learn these six lines and you can sing all seven verses of the aarti; only the words change.

Two structural things worth noticing before you practise. Line 4 is line 3 sung again with new words, and line 12 is line 6 — the aarti repeats far more than it looks like on paper, so twelve lines is really about seven shapes. And line 10 is line 3 again, which is why the verse feels familiar the first time you play it.

The same notes as Western keys

B↓ and A↓ are the B and A just below your starting C. Every note in the whole aarti is a white key — no komal, no tivra anywhere in twelve lines, which is exactly why it teaches so well.

Harmonium notes in Hindi — हिंदी में सरगम

Reading the harmonium notation

Harmonium notation and harmonium notes mean the same thing — different sites use different words for the same rows of letters. What follows is sargam, the Indian system, where every note carries a name instead of a letter. The table above gives the Western key for each one.

• S R G M P D N — Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni: the seven swaras. With Sa on C they are the white keys running up from C.
• A dot under the letter — the octave below. This song uses Ṇ and Ḍ, both to the left of your starting Sa.
• | — a phrase break, put there so the line is readable. It is not a bar line and you do not pause on it.

Om Jai Jagdish Hare uses 7 of the twelve keys in the octave: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. Every note in Om Jai Jagdish Hare is a white key — no komal, no tivra anywhere in it, which is why it reads so cleanly on paper.

Watch it played

The same notes as on this page, sounded on the harmonium with the keys lighting up as they go — useful for checking your timing against the written line.

Playing it like an aarti, not an exercise

1. Turn the drone on first. Set it to Sa (C here). The melody circles Sa constantly, and against the drone every return home lands with the weight the aarti is supposed to have. On the web harmonium the drone switch is on the left of the control bar.
2. Learn the Sa–Ṇ–Sa dip by ear. The one distinctive move in line 1 is the dip to the lower Ni. Play S Ṇ S slowly until the dip-and-return feels like one gesture.
3. Let line 2 breathe at the top. P P D P M is the emotional peak — most singers slow slightly through it. The 🐢 button holds the whole line at practice speed until the shape is in your fingers.
4. Repeat is the point. An aarti loops. When line 2 ends on R, line 1 starts again on S right next door — practise the join, not just the lines.

Common questions

What are the harmonium notes for Om Jai Jagdish Hare?

With Sa on C: line 1 is S S · S S S Ṇ · S R, line 2 is R G M · P P D P M · G M R. The full cycle is twelve lines — six of sthayi and six of antara — and all of it is white keys; Ṇ and Ḍ are the Ni and Dha below your starting Sa.

Why do published versions of this aarti differ?

Because it lives in oral tradition — different families and regions sing slightly different lines, and notation sites transcribe different renditions. That is also why we cross-check several sources and publish only what they agree on, comparing intervals rather than sargam symbols so that a source notating in another key does not look like a disagreement.

Do all seven verses use the same tune?

Yes. After the sthayi, every verse of the aarti is sung to the same antara melody — lines 7 to 12 on this page. New words, same notes. That is why twelve lines is enough to play the whole thing.

What drone note should I set?

Your Sa — C if you follow this notation as written. If you sing along and C sits wrong for your voice, move Sa (and the drone with it); the sargam stays identical.

Is harmonium notation the same as harmonium notes?

Yes. Both names describe the same thing, and you will find Om Jai Jagdish Hare published under either one. This page gives the notation three ways so you can use whichever you read fastest: sargam, Western key names, and Devanagari. Om Jai Jagdish Hare draws on 7 of the twelve keys in the octave — Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni.

Where to go next

• All song notes — every song we publish, each with a follow-along player.
• Happy Birthday — the other universal first song, four lines with one black key.
• The harmonium notes chart — what Ṇ, komal and tivra mean, and where every note sits.
• The beginner guide — bellows, drone, and your first five-minute practice.