Women select jewellery on Dhanteras in Rourkela on Tuesday. Pictures by Uttam Kumar Pal

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: A huge rush was witnessed at markets and jewellery shops across the city as people celebrated Dhanteras today.

In the past couple of days, the people were found flocking at markets to buy gold, silver, electronic items and utensils.

Dhanteras or Dhantrayodashi falls on the 13th day of the lunar phase or krishna paksha (dark fortnight) in the Hindu month of Kartik. While dhan means “wealth”, trayodashi means the “13th day”. There is a popular belief that buying gold and silver on this “auspicious” day brings prosperity.

A shopkeeper said the drop in gold prices boosted sales this Dhanteras. While the price of per 10gm of gold hovered around Rs 30,000 last year, it has come down to Rs 27,000 this season.

“This day is considered auspicious to buy gold. Since its price had come down, the demand became more. The business was better in comparison to last year,” said sales manager of Epari Sadashiv jewellers S.K. Patnaik.

Merchants are of the view that the sale of gold chains, pendants, finger rings and gold coins of various denominations is quite popular. Jewellers in an attempt to attract more customers offered attractive schemes and 100 per cent discount in making charges.

“Although the festival does not originally belong to the state, but since the day is regarded auspicious, I decided to buy something. So many new designs were launched this year, so shopping was a fun,” said Anita Mahapatra, a 35-year-old homemaker.

People were also seen buying silver jewellery and utensils. Shopkeepers say jewellery items such as anklets, toe-rings, articles used in worshipping gods and utensils such as spoon, plates and bowls were also in demand.

“Last year, we had suffered a lot due to cyclone Phailin and subsequent floods. But, the sale was considerably high this year. For those, who did not invest in the yellow metal, silver was the best they could have,” said a retail jeweller at the Unit-I market in the city.