Chalisa

Chalisa means “forty verse” prayers. Verses that praise and plead with devotion. They are recited over and over again or chanted by groups. In Chalisa verses are praise and plead with devotion. The acts and deeds of deities are recalled in these verses to aid the devotee to meditate on righteous and noble qualities.

The word “chālīsā” is derived from “chālīs”, which means the number forty in Hindi, as the All Chalisa has 40 verses (excluding the couplets at the beginning and at the end).  The word “Chalisa” is derived from “Chalis”, which means the number forty in Hindi.

Chalisa Collection

Chalisa : चालीसा

Forty verses of lyrics. Verses that praise and plead with devotion.

The very word “Chalis” in Hindi means”forty” and therefore it means a unique verse form, with exactly forty rhyming couplets. Just like the Sonnet(14 lines) or the Limerick(5 lines) in English or Venba(4 lines) or Kuralpa(2 lines) in Tamil.

Chalisa. Emphasise on the name it spells 40 means . Aarti is a appraisal of any devtas.

Incidentally 40 is also one of the few numbers considered auspicious by the Traditional Hindus.(Some other numbers are 3,5,7,21,27,48,or 108)