# Black Granite Lotus-Seat Chowki, 6in > Hand-polished black granite chowki: a 6-inch lotus-petal seat on four turned feet, made to raise a murti in a home pooja room. **Source:** https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-granite-lotus-seat-chowki-6in **Business:** Tilak Mandirwala — made-to-order marble temples (mandirs), statues and decorative handicrafts. Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Founded 2006. **How it works:** Each piece is carved to order by the independent master sculptors TMW works with in Jaipur's Khajane Walon Ka Rasta sculptors' market. TMW designs the piece with the customer, briefs the sculptor, and follows it through to delivery and installation. **Pricing:** request-for-quote — pieces are custom, so the site carries no list prices. **Ships:** across India; export enquiries welcome. **About the image:** a design visualisation, not a photograph of stock on hand. The piece is carved to order after the design is agreed. **Availability:** made to order. ## What a chowki is for A chowki is the low seat that lifts a murti clear of the floor or the shelf it stands on, the household version of the stone singhasan inside a temple. In most Indian homes nothing in the pooja room is meant to rest directly on the ground, and this is the piece that answers that. The form here is a 6-inch square with a lotus-petal medallion cut into the top face, a moulded band carrying a petal frieze around the edge, and four short turned feet that raise it about an inch. The top is left completely open, so a small Ganesh, a Laddu Gopal, a Shiva lingam or a framed photograph can all take the same seat. The raised feet also let abhishek water run off the sides instead of collecting underneath. ## The stone Black granite is an igneous rock rather than a marble. It is considerably harder, effectively non-porous, and far less troubled by water, oil and lamp soot than white marble is. On a chowki, which lives under abhishek water and beside a lit diya, that is the property that earns it the job. The stone is quarried in southern India, where it has been the temple material for centuries: the Chola-period shrines of Tamil Nadu and most South Indian processional murtis are cut from the same family of rock. Worked to a soft satin polish rather than a mirror, it reads as an even, deep black with a very fine crystalline grain that shows only where the carving turns and catches the light. It takes a wipe with a damp cloth and looks the same years later. ## The carving Every line on this chowki is cut by hand. The lotus is a shallow relief of eight petals around a seed boss, the outlines run in with a fine point so the flower stays legible in the low light of a mandir. Below it the edge band carries a repeating petal frieze, and the four feet are turned to a round profile and then carved with a leaf sheath so they answer the top. Black granite is slow, unforgiving work: it will not be hurried the way marble can be, and a slipped chisel cannot be filled afterwards. The piece is carved for you by the master sculptors we work with in Jaipur, and the flat top is trued and polished last so a murti sits level on it. ## Sizing it for your mandir Six inches across suits a murti of roughly four to nine inches, such as a Laddu Gopal, a small Ganesh, a Balaji, or a lingam with its yoni base. Standing about two and a half inches tall and weighing close to two kilos, it stays put without being awkward to lift down for cleaning. In a home mandir it usually goes centrally on the main shelf, with the murti's own base set inside the lotus medallion so the petals read as a border around it. Black against a white marble mandir is a deliberate contrast; against a wooden one it reads quieter. If your murti is wider than six inches at the base, take the next size up rather than let the base overhang the edge band. ## Making it yours The lotus can be left off for a plain polished top, the square can be turned round, and the same chowki can be cut in Makrana white marble, Vietnam white marble or Dholpur pink sandstone. Sizes step up in two-inch increments. Tell us the murti it has to carry and we will size it to that piece. ## Specifications - **Material:** Black Granite - **Finish:** Soft polish (satin) - **Colour:** Black - **Weight:** 2 kg - **Ideal for:** pooja room, home mandir, gifting Stone, size and finish are all changeable — these are the specifications of the piece as shown. ## Media ### Images (1) - https://vptrobfqdvauunfvodxw.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/tmw-media-assets/Statue%20product%20images/black-granite-lotus-seat-chowki-6in.webp (primary, concept render) All media is public and CORS-open — fetch directly, no signing or proxy needed. ## Part of - [Handicrafts](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/collections/custom-marble-handicraft-items) ## Related pieces - [Black Granite & Glass Hurricane Lantern, 14in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-granite-glass-hurricane-lantern-14in) - [Black Granite Inlaid Photo Frame Pair, 9in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-granite-inlaid-photo-frame-pair-9in) - [Black Granite Coaster Set of Six with Floral Inlay, 4in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-granite-inlay-coaster-set-six-4in) ## Enquire about this piece - WhatsApp, message pre-written: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=919766532408&text=Hi!%20I'd%20like%20a%20quote%20to%20have%20this%20design%20made%3A%20Black%20Granite%20Lotus-Seat%20Chowki%2C%206in.%20Product%20link%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tilakmandirwala.com%2Fproducts%2Fblack-granite-lotus-seat-chowki-6in - Tell us the size, the stone and where it is going. We will send you a quote and a timeline. ## Contact Tilak Mandirwala - Email: info@tilakmandirwala.com - Phone: +91 92141 72150 - WhatsApp: https://wa.me/919766532408 - Enquiry form: https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/contact - Store: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India — https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/best-mandir-shop-jaipur Enquiries are quoted per piece: share the deity or object, an approximate height, and the stone you have in mind.