Handcrafted Black Stone Khatu Shyam Ji Seated Darbar Murti, 21in

Shyam Baba in the seated darbar form

At Khatu, in Sikar district in the Shekhawati country of Rajasthan, Barbarika is worshipped as Shyam Baba — the grandson of Bhima who gave away his head before the Mahabharata was fought, and who is known across the state as Hare ka Sahara, the support of the one who has lost. This 21-inch murti carries him in the darbar form a household shrine asks for: seated at ease on a low carved chowki, the right hand lifted open-palmed in ashirwad, the left resting on the knee. Both hands are empty and there are two arms only. A crowned mukut sits over long hair with a single peacock plume curving at its side, thick garlands of carved flowers fall towards the waist, and the face is young and beardless under a tilak — Barbarika was a youth when he gave his head, and he is never carved otherwise.

What black stone does to a Khatu Shyam murti

The stone is black stone: dense, fine-grained, almost figureless, and one of the very few natural stones that will hold a true mirror polish rather than a sheen. On a seated figure that counts for more than it does on a flat panel. The polish pulls every fold of the dhoti and every turn of the shoulder into one long unbroken highlight, so the form reads from across a room in low lamp light, while the garlands and the crown keep their detail at arm's length. Black stone also has a long history in Indian temple sculpture — the granite murtis of the southern temple tradition come from the same family of stone — and against the white marble that dominates Rajasthani shrines it gives the darbar a different, heavier gravity.

Sizing the murti for a mandir or a console

The piece stands 21 inches tall, runs about 13.5 inches across the chowki and 10 inches front to back, and weighs close to 54 kg. That is real stone weight, so it wants a marble or hardwood surface with solid support beneath it — a mandir platform, a low console, a masonry ledge — rather than a bracketed wall shelf. Set about 24 inches off the floor, the face falls to the eye of someone seated for aarti, which is how most families keep him. In a living room it holds a console on its own, with nothing crowding it on either side.

Make it yours — a Khatu Shyam murti to your brief

Every piece here is made to a brief. Tell us the height you have room for, whether the chowki should stay plain or be cut deeper, and whether you want him in black stone or in white marble, and we design it with you before any stone is touched. It is then carved for you by the master sculptors we work with in and around Jaipur, and a fresh commission at this size runs 8–12 weeks. We handle the crating, the paperwork and the delivery to your door. If you are working to a date — the Phalgun mela, a griha pravesh — say so at the start: there may already be a carved piece with the sculptors we work with, and we will send you photographs of that actual murti.