A discharge lamp lighting apparatus includes a discharge container, a pair of electrodes and a power supply apparatus. An alternating current of a frequency, which is lower than stationary frequency, is inserted periodically into the alternating current of stationary frequency. When a lighting current value of the discharge lamp is smaller than a predetermined lower limit, the frequency is set as predetermined minimum frequency. When the lighting current value of a discharge lamp is larger than a predetermined maximum value, the frequency is set as predetermined maximum frequency. When a lighting current value of the discharge lamp is between the lower limit and the maximum value, the frequency is set as a selected frequency corresponding to the lighting current value. The selected frequency increases according to an increase of frequency change as a lighting current value increases.