Simplify Your Daily Puja: Teertham Bridges Tradition and Technology

Teertham blends AI with Vedic traditions to simplify Hindu pujas—booking priests, authentic samagri, and seamless rituals for urban devotees.

New Delhi: In the crowded lanes of Delhi-NCR, where centuries-old rituals coexist with the hum of broadband, a quiet revolution is taking shape. Teertham, a homegrown faith-tech startup, is pioneering an unexpected fusion: harnessing artificial intelligence to deepen the ancient practice of Hindu puja.

Navigating the sacred waters of ritual and devotion can be daunting for today’s urban households. Amid packed schedules, shifting work patterns and the perennial challenge of finding a qualified priest, devotional ceremonies often take a backseat.

By weaving AI models into Vedic traditions, Teertham is solving full stack problem of finding right pandit, authentic puja samagri and standardized Dakshina. Teertham promises to make sacred ceremonies more personal, precise and accessible without sacrificing their sanctity.

Teertham streamlines every aspect of a Hindu puja, from booking an acharya to delivering premium samagri at your doorstep. Founded earlier this year by Ex-HDFC banker Shubhangi Gupta, Teertham positions itself as helping users to “Experience Divine Rituals”. Teertham aims to modernize religious observance without diluting its sanctity.

“City life leaves little room for our divine puja rituals,” explains Shubhangi, Teertham’s CEO. “People want convenience, but they also crave authenticity. We built Teertham to deliver both.” The platform’s genesis lies in the founders’ own struggle: coordinating priests, sourcing materials and scheduling rituals for their extended family across Delhi-NCR. “Every janmotsav or sankalpa felt like a logistical marathon,” recalls Shubhangi. “We wanted to replicate the warm touch of a family-arranged puja, but with the simplicity of a few taps on the phone.”

At its core, Teertham offers a three-step service model: Advice from Acharyas, Booking and Puja Performace. Users begin with a brief chat over a familiar toll-free call—with one of the many certified Acharyas in Teertham’s network to discuss their puja requirements.

Whether it’s a Griha Pravesh, Satyanarayan Katha or a simple daily aarti, the platform’s network of over hundreds vetted pandits and Acharyas covers a spectrum of Vedic traditions. Once the type and timing of the puja are confirmed, Teertham’s AI booking engine helps booking the puja.

Teertham ensures customer is delighted with each facet of the puja, from providing premium samagri neatly packed in beautiful eco-friendly glass jars, fully stocked havan kund, to personal on-ground support to ensure Acharya performs puja on time. “We even include the dakshina in our package,” Shubhangi notes, “to eliminate any awkward conversations about fees on the day of the ceremony.”

The company’s app-first approach has been met with enthusiasm among millennials and young professionals. “It’s intuitive,” says Priya Singh, a 28-year-old software engineer in Noida who recently used Teertham for her parents’ 25th wedding anniversary puja.

“I just selected the date, described our family’s tradition, and within minutes had a confirmation. The priest arrived on time, materials were pristine, and the ceremony went off without a hitch.” Priya’s experience underscores a core tenet of Teertham’s philosophy: reliable execution, every time.

Behind the sleek interface, polished service and AI booking engine under the hood, lies a commitment to quality and authenticity in both pillars of delivery – Acharya and Samagri. Teertham’s founder team has partnered with scholars from Delhi’s Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University and Varanasi’s Banaras Hindu University to create ritual kits that adhere to scriptural guidelines—right down to the proportions of sandalwood paste and the sequence of mantras.

“We want to honour the shastras,” says Shubhangi, “while freeing families from the minutiae of sourcing dozens of ritual items.” Each glass jar of samagri is labelled with its Vedic name and description of samagri, ensuring that even newcomers can follow along.

Teertham works with micro-entrepreneurs across the region trained in puja-material preparation. This not only guarantees fresh supplies but also creates economic opportunities at the community level. “Our samagri is hand-picked, hand-packed and hand-delivered,” highlights Shubhangi. “By engaging specialist suppliers, we build a localized supply chain that benefits dozens of small businesses.”

Launched in March 2025, Teertham has already amassed dozens of early paying customers. Teertham has raised an angel round and is planning to scale to 300-400 pujas per month in next 6 months.

Teertham’s digital marketing is taking shape through a modest but growing Instagram presence (currently at 3,200+ followers) and targeted WhatsApp campaigns. “We’re focusing on Delhi-NCR first,” says Shubhangi, “because this region combines deep-rooted devotion with high digital adoption. Once we’ve fine-tuned our model here, we plan to expand to Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Ranchi to name a few cities.”

Critics might wonder whether technology can ever fully capture the intangible essence of ritual. To that, Teertham’s founders offer a pragmatic response: “We’re not replacing devotion,” insists Shubhangi. “We’re simply removing friction so people can focus on the experience, not the errands.” Early user feedback suggests the approach resonates: over 90% of Teertham’s first-month customers rated their experience “Excellent,” citing punctuality, priest conduct and material quality as top factors.

Teertham’s roadmap includes advanced features such as AI-enabled ritual reminders, personalized puja calendars, and even live-stream puja integration. “We envision a future where your puja is just a voice command away,” says Shubhangi with a smile. With a quietly confident start, Teertham is setting the stage for a new era of faith-tech—a world where pressing “Book Now” brings timeless blessings to your doorstep.