Kurma Tortoise & Pooja Plate — 6 Inch

A Kurma tortoise in German Silver, sitting in a six-inch pooja plate. Under the tortoise, cast into its base, is the Kubera yantra — the 3 × 3 magic square that adds to fifteen in every direction. Small enough for a mandir shelf or an entrance console, finished enough to hand over in its box without wrapping it.

The numbers under the tortoise

Lift it and you will find a grid inside a lotus frame:

Add any row. Add any column. Add either diagonal. The answer is fifteen every time. There is exactly one way to arrange the numbers 1 to 9 so that this happens, and this is it — every other version is a rotation or a mirror of the same square.

It is the oldest magic square recorded anywhere. In Indian practice it is known as the Kubera yantra, after Kubera, the keeper of wealth, and it is engraved on the base of Vastu tortoises for that reason. The 5 sits at the centre, where all eight lines cross. Fifteen is also the number of tithis in a paksha, which is why the square gets read as one complete cycle.

That is what the tradition says about it. We are not going to tell you what it will do for you — but the mathematics is real, and it is genuinely satisfying to check with a finger on a Sunday afternoon.

Where the tortoise is usually kept

Vastu practice places the tortoise in the north or north-east of the home, facing inward — arriving, not leaving. The plate sits under it, and many households keep a shallow film of water in the plate with a flower floating in it.

If you do that, empty the plate afterwards and wipe it dry. Standing water marks German Silver. That is tarnish, not damage, and it comes off — but it is easier not to make it in the first place.

A griha pravesh gift that isn't a clock

A housewarming gift has a hard job. It has to suit a home you have not seen, in a style you do not know, without needing a nail in the wall or space in a cupboard. This one manages it: it is small, it is not the fourth photo frame, and it means something specific rather than being generically nice.

It works for griha pravesh and housewarming, a new office or shop opening, Dhanteras and Diwali, wedding shagun, and the first anniversary of a new house. It arrives in a red velvet box with a brass clasp, so there is nothing to wrap and nothing to explain at the door.

Size

• Tortoise — 3.7 inch long × 3 inch wide
• Plate — 6 inch diameter
• Two separate pieces. The tortoise lifts off the plate.

Material and care

German Silver is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. It contains no silver at all — the name describes the colour, not the content, which is why a piece this size costs what it costs rather than twenty times more.

It will darken over a few months, faster in humid weather and faster still if it sits in water. That is tarnish, not damage, and it is the normal behaviour of the metal. A dry cotton cloth handles most of it; the German Silver care guide has the full method. Don't scrub the tortoise's shell — the chasing in the pattern is the detail you paid for.

In the box

• One Kurma tortoise, German Silver, with the Kubera yantra on its base
• One pooja plate, 6 inch, German Silver
• Red velvet gift box

Price includes GST. Prepaid only — we do not offer cash on delivery. Dispatched within 48 hours, shipped anywhere in India. Free shipping above Rs 1,999.