Custom Made Saraswati Mata Murti in Marble Stone

Saraswati Mata murtis in marble

A Saraswati Mata murti is the one deity many families buy for a child's study as much as for the pooja room. Maa Saraswati, Saraswati ji, Vidya Devi: by any name she is the goddess of learning, music and speech, so she is commissioned by students and their parents, by schools, colleges and music academies, by temples and trusts, and as a gift for a teacher. This collection gathers sixteen Saraswati marble murti designs, from a 9 inch desk murti to a 36 inch standing statue for a school foyer, many of them hand-painted in soft colours over white marble.

The Saraswati designs in this collection

Every piece here is a design you can order as shown, or change in size, stone and colour.

• Seated on a lotus with her veena: the classic home form. See the 12 inch hand-painted Vietnam white murti, the 15 inch Vasant Panchami murti in a yellow sari and the 18 inch murti on a plinth of open books.
• With her swan beside the lotus: the 24 inch Vietnam white statue in plain white, and the 9 inch marble dust murti for a study desk.
• Hamsavahini, seated on the swan: an 18 inch hand-painted Makrana murti and a 30 inch white Vietnam statue on carved water and lotus.
• Standing: a 36 inch Makrana white statue for an institution, a 30 inch hand-painted standing Saraswati in a gentle tribhanga, and a 33 inch Saraswati standing on her swan in a red-bordered sari.
• Temple and throne forms: a 21 inch Saraswati on a carved singhasan with an arched prabhavali, a 24 inch temple murti with gold shringar and a 27 inch white Saraswati with gold leaf in a lotus-petal aureole.
• Relief and scene pieces: a 24 inch relief on an arched stele for a wall niche, and a 20 inch Saraswati seated by the river with her swan gliding on carved water.
• With Lakshmi and Ganesh: the 15 inch Lakshmi Ganesh Saraswati set on one shared lotus base.

What makes a Saraswati murti correct

Saraswati is recognised by a small set of attributes, and every murti in this collection keeps all of them. She has four arms: the front two play the veena, one back hand holds a mala (akshamala) and the other a palm-leaf book, the Vedas. She sits or stands on a lotus, traditionally white,, and her vahana is the swan (hamsa), said to separate milk from water as true knowledge separates the real from the false. Her sari is white or a pale colour, because she is the goddess of purity and clarity rather than of wealth, which is why a Saraswati murti looks quieter than a Lakshmi in red and gold. Some regional traditions show a peacock, and Bengali pratimas often show two arms; the four-armed form with the swan is the one most families and temples ask for, so it is the one carved here.

Painted, gold leaf or pure white

The hand-painted Saraswati murtis are painted over white marble: a white sari with a gold, red or deep blue border, warm skin tones, a gold crown and jewellery, and a pink lotus, with the base left as natural stone. A yellow sari is the Vasant Panchami favourite, since yellow is the colour of the spring festival. Gold leaf on white, as on the 27 inch aureole murti, keeps the stone white and lays 24 carat gold only on the crown, ornaments and borders. Plain white Saraswati statues suit a school, a library or a modern white pooja room, where the carving of the veena strings and the swan's feathers carries the piece. Any design here can be ordered in any of the three.

Choosing the stone

Every Saraswati murti is made to order, and most families choose between two white marbles:

• Vietnam white marble: cooler and brighter, with a fine, even grain that holds the veena's frets and the fine ornaments crisply. The first choice for a pure white Saraswati.
• Makrana white marble: the warm, dense Rajasthani marble of the Taj Mahal, and the traditional stone for temple murtis and for hand-painted work.
• Cast marble dust: lighter and more affordable, it holds fine detail and suits a small Saraswati for a study desk or a gift for students.

Black stone and Dholpur pink sandstone are also available on request, though Saraswati is almost always carved in white.

Size and placement

The Saraswati murtis here run from 9 inches to 36 inches:

• 9 to 15 inches: a study desk, a bookshelf or a small home mandir. A Saraswati at a child's desk is a common first murti.
• 18 to 24 inches: the main seat of a home pooja room or a classroom shrine.
• 27 to 36 inches and above: a school or college foyer, a music academy, a library or a temple. Larger statues up to about 5 feet can be carved for an institution.

Place Saraswati so that she faces east or north, in the study or the north-east of the pooja room, at or above eye level and never directly on the floor. In a school, the entrance hall or the prayer hall where the morning assembly gathers is the usual place.

Vasant Panchami, Navratri and Diwali

Vasant Panchami, in late January or early February, is Saraswati's own festival: Saraswati Puja in Bengal and eastern India, the day children write their first letters, and the busiest time of year for schools ordering a Saraswati murti. In South India she is worshipped on the ninth day of Navratri, Saraswati Puja, with books and instruments placed before her. And at Diwali many families worship Saraswati together with Lakshmi and Ganesh: in Gujarat and Maharashtra the new account books are blessed in Sharada Pujan, and in many homes the three deities sit side by side. For that trio see the Lakshmi Ganesh pair collection, and for gifting in the festive season the marble Diwali gifts.

If you need a Saraswati murti for a date, ask us first whether a ready piece exists: a Saraswati in a common form and size may already be carved, and a ready piece typically reaches you in about 2 weeks, depending on where you are. A murti carved to your brief takes 4 to 6 weeks, so for Vasant Panchami write to us by early December.

Caring for a Saraswati murti

• Dust a Saraswati marble murti with a dry, soft cloth; white marble does not need washing.
• Never use lemon, vinegar or bathroom cleaners, which etch polished marble.
• Wipe haldi, kumkum, ghee and sandalwood paste promptly, as turmeric stains white marble quickly.
• A hand-painted Saraswati should only ever be dusted dry, never wiped wet.

Make your Saraswati murti yours

The sixteen Saraswati designs here are a starting point. Tell us which one you like, and the size, marble and colours you want, and the master sculptors and artist families we work with in Rajasthan will carve it for you; a different crown, a taller lotus, or your school's name on the base are all normal requests. If you have a photo of a Saraswati murti you love, or an idea of your own, send that instead. Every design is made to order, ready-to-ship Saraswati murtis are shown on request with photos of the actual piece, and each one is packed in a wooden crate and delivered to your door in India or abroad.