Most samagri lists are a wall of Sanskrit nouns with no indication of what any of it does, which is not much help standing in a market. This one groups the items by the moment they are used, so you can see what you actually need for the way your household keeps the festival.
A household keeping dedd din needs a fraction of what a ten-day observance does. Buy for the days you are keeping, not for the longest possible list.
For the sthapana (installation)
These are the one-time items, needed on the first morning when the murti is installed and pranapratishtha is performed.
- The murti itself — see the note on shadu mati below before buying.
- A chowrang or paat — the low wooden platform the murti sits on.
- A clean cloth for the platform, usually red or yellow.
- Kalash (a metal pot), with a coconut and mango or betel leaves for the top.
- Rice or wheat to seat the kalash in.
- Haldi and kumkum.
- Akshata — whole rice grains mixed with a little kumkum, used through every ritual that follows.
- Janve (sacred thread) offered to the murti.
- Supari, whole betel nuts, and a few coins for the offering.
For the daily aarti
These get used twice a day for as long as the murti is in the house, so quantities matter more than variety. This is where first-time households usually under-buy.
- Niranjan or samai — the oil lamp — and enough oil or ghee for the full observance.
- Cotton wicks (vaat). Buy far more than seems sensible.
- Agarbatti and dhoop.
- Camphor (kapur) for the aarti flame.
- A ghanti (bell) and a taat or plate for the aarti.
- Durva — the twenty-one blades of grass offered to Ganpati, tied in bunches of three. These wilt, so buy fresh through the festival rather than all at once.
- Red flowers, jaswand especially, and a garland.
- Naivedya for each day — modak on the first day, and whatever the household offers thereafter.
For the visarjan
The send-off needs very little, but it is the part people find themselves scrambling for on the day.
- Dahi, doodh, honey and a little sugar for the final offering.
- A fresh garland and flowers.
- Curd rice or the naivedya your family sends the murti off with.
- A cloth to carry the murti in, and a container of water if you are immersing at home.
A note on the murti
Shadu mati — natural river clay — dissolves in water within hours. Plaster of Paris does not; it can sit intact in a tank or riverbed for years, and the paints used on POP idols often carry heavy metals into the water with them.
Most municipal corporations in Maharashtra now run artificial immersion tanks and several have restricted POP idols outright. If you are buying a murti this year, ask the seller directly whether it is shadu mati. A genuine clay idol is noticeably heavier than a POP one of the same size.
What is not on this list
Muhurat timings. The auspicious window for sthapana varies by panchang and by city, and a wrong time published confidently is worse than none — check the panchang your family follows, or ask at your local temple.