Gudi Padwa Gifts

The festival falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the waxing moon in Chaitra, which puts it in March or early April. In the Maharashtrian reckoning it is one of the saade teen muhurat, the three and a half days in the year so auspicious that nothing begun on them needs a muhurat looked up first: Gudi Padwa, Akshaya Tritiya, Dussehra, and Diwali Padwa as the half. That is why a family that has been putting off a purchase makes it on this morning, and why the day carries more buying than a spring festival otherwise would.

What actually happens at the door

A bamboo staff is dressed in bright silk, usually green or yellow, with neem and mango leaves tied at the top and a garland of gathi, the sugar crystals sold only in this week. A metal pot goes over the whole thing, inverted. The gudi is raised at sunrise, at the door or off a window or terrace where the street can see it, and it comes down before sunset. Rangoli is laid at the threshold, the day begins with an oil bath, and somewhere in the morning everyone eats neem with jaggery, bitter and sweet together, on the understanding that the year will bring both.

We do not make the gudi, and we do not make the sarees, the sweets or the gold coins that fill most Gudi Padwa gift lists. What we make is the piece that goes into the devghar or onto the shelf in the front room. It is the slower gift and the longer one: the puran poli is gone by evening and the murti is still there in ten years.

Dagdusheth is the one a Maharashtrian house recognises

The Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati in Pune is the Ganesha that Maharashtra actually pictures when it thinks of Ganesha: the broad face, the heavy crown, the wide open eyes. Give a general Ganesha and you have given an idol. Give this form and you have given something the household already has a relationship with, and that difference counts for more than a size upgrade. We keep it gold plated, in solid brass at desk size, and in a larger version that comes with its own chowki, so it can be set down anywhere in the house without hunting for a stand.

Ganesha for the beginning, Lakshmi for the year

Beyond Dagdusheth the two pieces that suit the day are the obvious ones, and they are obvious for a reason. Ganesha is invoked at the start of anything, which is the entire content of this festival. A Lakshmi Ganesh pair is the standing new-year gift in Maharashtra, given to a household rather than to a person, and it is the safest choice when you do not know what the family keeps. A Lakshmi on her own suits a house that already has a Ganesha, which most do.

If you want something for the entrance rather than the shrine, Lakshmi's charan paduka is the piece that belongs there. The footprints are set just inside the door facing inward, so the year walks in rather than out. It is small, it is inexpensive, and it is the one thing here that answers the door the way a Gudi Padwa gift ought to.

Which finish, and what it will be asked to do

Plated pieces are a resin core with a layer of copper over it, then gold or silver electroplated on top, and on some pieces both. The copper is the layer that matters, because resin cannot be plated directly and the copper is what the precious metal keys onto. It is also why these are light, why the detail stays crisp at a small size, and why water is the one thing they cannot take. A plated piece looks its best on the morning it is handed over and asks nothing at all of the person who receives it.

Solid brass is the other answer, and it is the right one if the murti will be bathed. Ours is poured slowly into a mould made for that one idol and broken open once the metal has cooled, so every casting gets its own mould. That is why the detail holds where a reusable sand mould softens it, and it is why the brass itself has to be high grade, since a lesser alloy will not fill the shape cleanly. Sand cast brass is a different and cheaper process, and it shows first around a crown and a trunk. Brass darkens over the years as surface oxide, which some families want and others clean back with lemon and salt.

The white and gold pieces are a resin core coated in marble dust, with the jewellery made separately in brass, electroplated, and applied to the figure by hand one piece at a time, which is why the finish varies a little between pieces. Keep them dry and lift them by the base rather than by the jewellery. An antique finish reads as considered rather than bright, and suits a gift from an older relative.

What people spend, and when to order

Under 500 is the band for a piece going to several houses on the same morning, which is common where the family is large. Around 1,000 buys a proper small murti in plate or in brass. Around 3,000 buys a substantial brass piece with real weight to it. Above 5,000 you are into the large antique-finish figures and the paired sets, which is the band for a gift to parents or in-laws. Order in the fortnight before rather than in the week of. The date is fixed by the panchang well in advance, and a specific finish is the first thing to go.

How it arrives

Every piece is checked at our own warehouse before it goes out, and everything ships in our own packaging, made to be opened rather than merely to survive the journey. That matters on this day in particular, because a Gudi Padwa gift is usually handed over in a house full of people on the morning itself and unwrapped where everyone can see.

The same tithi is kept as Ugadi in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. For twenty five pieces or more, with engraving, a logo or a deity chosen for you, the bulk order page is the route.