Satyanarayan Puja Samagri

The list

Families and priests differ on the details. If a priest is coming, ask whether they bring anything.

• A picture or murti of Satyanarayan (Vishnu), a low seat (chowki) and a yellow cloth. Add a Ganesha picture, since Ganesha is worshipped first.
• A kalash (= water pot) with a coconut and mango leaves.
• Tulsi leaves, the main offering to Vishnu. Some families offer 11, 21, 51 or 100.
• Yellow flowers such as marigold, and a garland.
• Banana leaves or small banana plants for decoration, if you can find them, and bananas for the offering.
• Five kinds of fruit, or panchameva (= a mix of five dry fruits), as your family prefers.
• Panchamrit (= milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar), and Gangajal.
• Betel leaves and nuts, akshat (= unbroken rice), kumkum, turmeric, sandalwood paste and a red thread.
• A ghee lamp, incense and camphor.
• A katha book, so the five chapters can be read aloud.
• Prasad (= the blessed food) of sheera, a warm pudding of semolina (sooji) or wheat flour with ghee, sugar, milk and banana.

Preparation

The prasad is central to this puja, so plan it first. Roast the semolina or flour in ghee until it smells nutty, add sugar and warm milk, then mash in the banana and stir until thick. Many families, notably in Maharashtra, measure the main ingredients in one-and-a-quarter portions (sava), for example one and a quarter cups each of flour, sugar and ghee. Others do not, so follow your family.

Make enough for everyone present, because no one should leave without prasad. Make it fresh on the day, with clean hands, and keep it covered until it is offered. The day before, wash the fruit, gather the tulsi and set up the seat, kalash and cloth.

Substitutes

• Semolina or wheat flour: either is accepted. Some traditional accounts also use jaggery.
• Banana leaves: a clean plate, or leave them out.
• Tulsi: if fresh leaves are hard to find, ask your temple or priest. Some families accept dried leaves.
• Mango leaves: betel leaves, or leave them out.
• Five fruits: any five seasonal fruits.
• Kalash: a clean copper, brass or clay pot. Many families use steel if that is all they have.
• Open flame: use an LED lamp if the building does not allow a ghee lamp.

Where to buy in the USA

• Indian grocery: ask for a Satyanarayan puja kit, tulsi, banana leaves, sooji or rava (semolina), atta (wheat flour), ghee, jaggery, betel leaves and nuts, and coconut.
• Temple: some temples publish their own list, with counts of fruit, betel leaves and coconuts, and sometimes navadhanya (= nine grains). Ask the temple office or your priest.
• Ordinary supermarket: milk, sugar, bananas, fruit, marigolds and cut flowers, and wheat flour. Ghee is often in the international or natural-foods aisle.
• Online: puja kits and brass kalash and lamps from shops that ship in the USA. Order before the day, since delivery can be slow.