Black Granite Dharmachakra Buddha Statue, 24 in

The gesture of the first sermon

Both hands rise to the chest, thumb and index finger of each meeting to close a circle while the remaining fingers stay extended. This is the dharmachakra mudra, the moment the Buddha set the wheel of dharma turning in the deer park at Sarnath. It reads as instruction rather than blessing, and it changes how you see the whole figure: a teacher mid-sentence, not an ascetic at rest.

Everything else stays canonical. The ushnisha rises from a cap of tightly wound curls, the earlobes are drawn long, an urna marks the brow, and the monastic robe falls over the left shoulder leaving the right bare. The eyes are lowered rather than shut. He sits in full padmasana on a lotus-petal course above a plain stepped plinth.

Why black granite carries this form

Black granite is one of the few stones that holds a form this quiet without needing ornament. It is jet-black through the whole block, very fine grained and completely opaque, so what the eye reads is the silhouette and the fall of the robe, nothing else. Here it is finished matte, a low-gloss surface with the natural grain left legible, so light gathers along the shoulder, the knee and the curve of the pedestal instead of breaking up into hard points.

Against a pale wall the contrast does most of the work, which is why this piece belongs in an open room rather than a dark niche. Granite is non-porous and unbothered by weather, so a covered verandah or a courtyard corner is equally fair game.

Size, weight and where it can sit

The figure stands 24 inches tall, about 17 inches across the knees and 11 inches front to back, carved from a solid block at roughly 90 kg. That weight is a real consideration: it belongs on a low console, a masonry plinth or the floor of a meditation corner, never on a floating shelf or a slim side table, and two people should move it.

At this size the face sits at conversational height when you are seated, which is the scale most buyers ask for in a living room, an office or a meditation corner rather than the full-height pieces made for gardens.

Making it yours

Each piece is carved to order by the master sculptors we work with in Jaipur, and a commission runs eight to twelve weeks depending on the depth of the carving. We take the brief with you, covering stone, height, finish and how much detail goes into the pedestal, quote it, follow the work through, and deliver it to your door. Makrana white marble, Vietnam white marble and Dholpur pink sandstone are all available for this form if black is not what you had in mind.

If your date is close, ask before you assume. There may already be a carved piece of this form ready to ship, and we will send you photographs of the actual statue.