Disclosed herein a discharge lamp lighting device capable of suppressing an occurrence of a flicker and obtaining a longer life till flicker even when the discharge lamp lights up for a long time. The device comprises a short arc type discharge lamp; a lighting circuit for supplying power to the discharge lamp; and a controller for controlling the lighting circuit. The discharge lamp has: an arc tube; an anode and a cathode disposed in the arc tube with the anode and the cathode facing each other; and a xenon gas enclosed in the arc tube, and the cathode includes an electron emissive material and a carbon component. The controller includes a short time lighting circuit for carrying out a short time lighting operation that lights up the discharge lamp at least once in a short time during an idle period in which the discharge lamp does not constantly light up.