Ghar Ki Diwali / Regional boxes / Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu box · for Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy teams

Thalai Deepavali

"Ganga snanam aacha?" Has everyone had their holy bath yet?

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In collaboration with ViralNext Media

How Tamil Nadu celebrates

The story

In Tamil Nadu, Deepavali is celebrated on Naraka Chaturdashi, before sunrise. The whole family rises in the dark for Gangasnanam: warm gingelly oil on the head, a shikakai wash, and the belief that on this one morning the water in every home is as holy as the Ganga. The greeting of the day is "Ganga snanam aacha?"

Then come new clothes, crackers at dawn, and a spoon of Deepavali legiyam, a dark, spiced digestive of ginger, pepper and jaggery that elders insist on before the feast.

For newlyweds it is Thalai Deepavali, their first Deepavali, spent at the bride's home with gifts, new silk and a lot of fuss. A brass kuthu vilakku is lit at the centre of it all.

Every box lights two homes

The hands behind this box

A women's self-help group meeting in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu

Chennai's potters, Nachiarkoil's lamp-casters, and women's self-help groups

The agal vilakku, the little clay lamps of Deepavali, are shaped by Chennai's potter families. In 2020 one third-generation family in Royapettah told Citizen Matters it faced a bleak Deepavali. The mother, 'born to a potter and married to one', paints the lamps. Their son learned the craft as a child but works as a bus conductor, because, he said, the wheel 'will not help us secure our future'.

The brass kuthu vilakku is cast in Nachiarkoil near Kumbakonam by Kammalar metalsmiths, using the lost-wax method their families have used for generations.

And the murukku and savouries are the kind Tamil Nadu's women's self-help groups fry and sell at the state's Deepavali bazaars, where a fair price goes straight to the woman who made them.

We buy from these craft communities in the open market, in bulk, close to Diwali. We name a specific family or group only once they've agreed to be featured.

What's in the box

Every item has a reason.

Cold-pressed gingelly (sesame) oil with black sesame seeds

Gingelly oil + shikakai

Everything you need for Gangasnanam at dawn.

In every box

Deepavali legiyam

The digestive every Tamil elder hands out before the feast.

From Deepam box

Murukku

Hand-pressed rice murukku, the sound of a Tamil Deepavali.

In every box

Adhirasam

Jaggery and rice-flour discs, one of the oldest sweets in Tamil kitchens.

From Deepam box

Kovilpatti kadalai mittai

GI-tagged peanut candy from Kovilpatti, made with Thoothukudi jaggery.

From Utsav box

Brass kuthu vilakku

The tall brass lamp lit at the heart of every Tamil home.

From Lakshmi box

Plus the Paanch Din essentials in every box: diyas, ubtan, a story card, and brass or a coin from the Utsav box up.

How we source it

From the town it's famous for.

Snacks and sweets come from the towns they are named after, made fresh the week of dispatch. Oil is cold-pressed, and brass comes from Tamil Nadu's lamp-making tradition.

Gingelly oilCold-pressed (marachekku)Tamil Nadu

MurukkuFamous for its murukkuManapparai

Adhirasam, legiyamSmall-batch home-style makersChennai

Kadalai mittaiGI-taggedKovilpatti

Kuthu vilakkuGI-tagged brass lamp craftNachiarkoil

The legends behind this box

The houses and artisan families whose craft this box celebrates. We buy from makers in these same towns, fresh for your order.

Dabba Chetty Kadai
Deepavali legiyam · Mylapore, Chennai

Started by the owner's great-grandfather and named after the dabbas (tins) its remedies were kept in. Chennai still lines up here for Deepavali marundhu.

Nachiarkoil lamp makers
Brass kuthu vilakku · Nachiarkoil, Kumbakonam

The Kammalar metalsmiths cast each lamp by the lost-wax method, a craft handed down through generations.

Standard Cold Pressed Oil
Gingelly oil, shikakai · Madurai

Three generations of oil-making since 1971.

How this box was made

Picked, packed, sealed, sent.

Picked fresh

Sweets and snacks are made by local makers the week of dispatch, in the town they're famous for.

Packed by hand

Each box is packed by hand, item by item, in the Paanch Din order.

A story card

Every box carries a card written for its region, telling the story of how home celebrates.

Sealed

Sealed for freshness. Perishables travel only within their freshness window.

Dispatched

Sent to each employee's door, timed to arrive before Dhanteras.

Tiers for this box