# Handcrafted Black Marble Temple Shiva Lingam on Stepped Yoni, 48in > Artisan-carved black marble Shiva Lingam on a stepped yoni platform: a 48-inch sanctum installation with a working abhishek drainage channel. **Source:** https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-marble-temple-shiva-lingam-stepped-yoni-48in **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. ## Why a sanctum lingam is cut in black marble Four feet of jet-black stone, worked to a mirror polish that turns lamplight into a single travelling highlight down the shaft. The black marble used here is the dense, close-grained variety long favoured for sanctum installations. It is quarried in the Markapur belt of Andhra Pradesh, where the stone comes out almost free of veining and holds a polish that repeated abhishek will not dull. Dark stone has been the traditional choice for a principal sanctum lingam for exactly that reason: it deepens rather than stains under decades of milk, honey and ghee. ## The turned shaft, and what Rudrabhishek needs Carving begins with a rough block squared to the finished footprint, after which the shaft is turned down by hand until its curve runs true from every side, the one part of a lingam where a sculptor's error is instantly visible. The yoni platform is cut separately, its channel and spout chased out with drill points and chisels, then the two are mated so the joint sits flush. Final polish is done by hand in progressive grits; no machine finishing touches the dome or the channel lip. TMW commissions this work from independent master sculptors in Jaipur who have spent decades on temple-grade stone. A temple-grade lingam is a working object rather than an ornament. The shaft rises from the yoni, or jaladhari, whose rim gathers everything poured during abhishek and carries it out through the spout. Convention sets that spout toward the north so the priest circumambulates without stepping across the flow, and the piece is carved that way as standard. The tripundra, three horizontal bands with the third eye at centre, is cut in low relief on the front face. Rudrabhishek, the Monday and Mahashivratri rite that gives this form its purpose, needs exactly this arrangement to be performed properly. ## Floor, weight and drainage for a 48-inch lingam At 48 inches over the full stepped base, the installation belongs in a community mandir, a trust-run shrine or a large prayer hall rather than a home altar. Plan for roughly 700 kg on the finished floor and a drainage point below or beside the platform. The channel is cut to run continuously through a long abhishek, not to be emptied by hand afterwards. Leave clear circumambulation space on all four sides; a lingam at this scale only reads correctly when it can be walked around. ## Sizing the yoni to an existing sanctum Height, shaft diameter and the depth of the drainage channel are all set at commission; trusts routinely order the yoni sized to an existing sanctum floor plan, or the spout re-oriented where the building axis demands it. The same design can be carved in Makrana or Sagyin white marble if the sanctum calls for a lighter stone. ## Specifications - **Material:** Black Marble - **Finish:** Mirror polish - **Colour:** Black - **Height:** 48 inches - **Width:** 30 inches - **Depth:** 30 inches - **Weight:** 700 kg - **Ideal for:** Community mandir, Temple installation, Rudrabhishek 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-marble-temple-shiva-lingam-stepped-yoni-48in.webp (primary, concept render) All media is public and CORS-open — fetch directly, no signing or proxy needed. ## Part of - [Statues](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/collections/custom-marble-statues) ## Related pieces - [Handcrafted Black Marble Ekmukhi Mukhalingam Shiva Lingam, 12in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-marble-ekmukhi-mukhalingam-shiva-lingam-12in) - [Handcrafted Black Marble Naga Shiva Lingam with Serpent Canopy, 24in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-marble-naga-shiva-lingam-serpent-canopy-24in) - [Handcrafted Black Marble Shiva Lingam with Yoni Base, 18in](https://www.tilakmandirwala.com/products/black-marble-shiva-lingam-yoni-base-18in) ## 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%20Handcrafted%20Black%20Marble%20Temple%20Shiva%20Lingam%20on%20Stepped%20Yoni%2C%2048in.%20Product%20link%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tilakmandirwala.com%2Fproducts%2Fblack-marble-temple-shiva-lingam-stepped-yoni-48in - 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.