Silver Dashain Tika Thali (Puja Tray)

$49.99

+ $2.50 GST

+ 7% PST for BC residents

24 cm

24 cm

26 cm

1

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The tika thali is the tray Dashain is given from. On Vijaya Dashami the elders of a house fill it with the red tika of rice, curd and sindoor, a handful of the yellow jamara grown through the ten days, flowers, coins and whatever sagun is being passed down, and every younger member of the family comes forward in turn to receive it. It is the single object at the centre of the day, and it is held in front of the whole family while they wait. This one is raised on a pedestal foot, which is what lifts the offering to eye level as it is given rather than leaving it flat on a table, and the deep well keeps the tika and the jamara from sliding as the thali is carried. The rim is worked into a scalloped star, the well is embossed with a lotus mandala, and the foot is decorated the whole way round, so the tray reads as finished from every side it will be seen from during the tika. It comes in two sizes, measured across the rim: 24 cm and 26 cm. The difference is small, so it comes down to how much the thali has to hold at once. The 24 cm is the usual choice for a home altar and a household giving tika to its own. The 26 cm gives a little more room for jamara, flowers and coins together, and a wider rim to hold as it is carried. For Nepali households in Canada, a proper tika thali is what makes Dashain at home feel like Dashain, and it stays in use through Tihar, pujas and weddings for the rest of the year. It is also a gift that gets remembered, particularly for a family keeping the festival away from home for the first time.