4 items
The sacred thread (janeu, yagnopaveetham) for the upanayanam and the kalasam, red and yellow kalava thread for the wrist and the kalasam's neck, the blouse pieces, dhoti and nine graha cloths a ceremony is dressed with, and the fresh mango-leaf toranam for the door. What each is for, and which ceremony calls for which, is below.
About these items
A ceremony is dressed in thread and cloth before it begins. The kalasam is wound with kalava — the red-and-yellow cotton thread — and dressed in a blouse piece; the deity is offered a cloth as vastram; the door is hung with a mango-leaf toranam; and the family leaves with the raksha thread tied on the wrist. The janeu is the sacred thread itself, worn from the upanayanam and changed at Sravana Purnima, and also offered to the deity and tied round the kalasam in a Satyanarayana or Vastu Pooja.
The nine coloured cloths of a Navagraha Pooja are the other particular item: one in each graha's colour, given as vastram and dana. All of it is here — the janeu by the piece or the set, the kalava by the roll, the blouse pieces, dhoti and graha cloths by the piece or the nine-piece set, and the toranam strung fresh for the day.
In this category
Per piece or set
For upanayanam and for the kalasam.
Yagnopaveetham (janeu, jandhyam) in the three-strand cotton form, by the piece for the wearer and in sets for the upanayanam. Also offered to the deity and tied round the kalasam in a Satyanarayana, Vastu or Ganapathi Pooja.
Per roll
Red and yellow thread for the wrist and the kalasam.
The red-and-yellow cotton thread — kalava, mauli, raksha — wound round the kalasam's neck and tied on the right wrist of the family at the close of a pooja. By the roll; one roll serves a season of ceremonies.
Per piece or nine-piece set
Blouse pieces, dhoti and the nine graha cloths.
Blouse pieces in red, yellow and green for dressing the kalasam and as vastram to a goddess; a cotton dhoti and angavastram for the deity and the purohit; and the nine graha cloths as a set for a Navagraha Pooja.
Per string
Fresh mango-leaf string for the threshold.
Fresh mango leaves strung on cotton for the main door at a Gruha Pravesham, a wedding, a vratam or a festival, and the leaves fanned in the kalasam's mouth. Strung the day before and supplied against the ceremony date.
Sizes and pack quantities vary by supplier and season. Fresh items — flowers, mango leaves, banana stems and tamboolam — are supplied against your ceremony date, so tell us the date when you enquire.
Choosing and using
A roll winds several kalasams and ties a family's wrists many times over; it is the one thread every pooja uses. Keep it on the peetham.
Red for Devi and Chandi, yellow for Lakshmi and Satyanarayana, green for a Sravana Friday, white for Sarasvati and the pitru rites; the nine graha colours for the Navagrahas. Ask if unsure and the pieces come in the colour the pooja calls for.
The wearer changes the thread at Sravana Purnima and after certain rites; a Satyanarayana or Vastu Pooja offers one to the deity. Order the count the ceremony needs.
The leaves are strung the day before and do not keep. Give the date; an artificial toranam can be substituted for an apartment door that cannot be redressed.
Common questions
It is wound round the neck of the kalasam and tied on the right wrist of the family — the raksha — at the close of a pooja, with the raksha mantra. The red-and-yellow cotton roll here serves both.
The yagnopaveetham, the three-strand sacred thread worn from the upanayanam over the left shoulder. It is changed at Sravana Purnima (Jandhyala Purnima), after a death in the family and after certain rites, and is also offered to the deity in a pooja.
Red for Devi, Durga and Chandi; yellow for Lakshmi, Satyanarayana and Ganapathi; green for a Sravana Friday; white for Sarasvati and pitru rites. A Navagraha Pooja uses the nine graha colours in order.
Yes — strung the day before on cotton thread and supplied against your ceremony date. It is hung on the main door and the leaves are fanned in the kalasam.
The kits carry the thread and cloth their ceremony needs — the kalasam cloth in the Lakshmi kit, the nine cloths in the Navagraha kits, the toranam in the Griha Pravesh kit. Order here to add to a kit or build your own set.
Tell us the ceremony date when you enquire. We confirm availability, the final contents and the price before anything is charged; fresh items are supplied against the date.
Other categories
If you are starting from nothing, a ceremony kit gathers all of this in one box with the contents listed.
