A short arc ultra-high pressure mercury lamp, at least one of the electrodes of which has a melted part towards the electrode head and a coil part which extends from the melted part continuously and integrally with it in a direction away from the electrode head, avoids blackening of the tube wall and achieves a long service life by the provision of a power supply which supplies the discharge lamp with direct current when operation is starting and afterwards supplies it with an alternating current, the direct current supplied by the power supply to the discharge lamp being initially 0.3 to 0.6 times as great as the rated current and afterwards increasing to 1.0 to 2.0 times are great as the rated current.