Handcrafted Hand-Painted Marble Nilkanth Varni Yogi Statue, 24in

This 24-inch murti portrays Bhagwan Swaminarayan in his most beloved early form — Nilkanth Varni, the teenage yogi who set out barefoot across India on a seven-year pilgrimage of penance and learning. He stands serene and self-possessed: a japa mala raised to his heart, a brass kamandalu water-pot in his hand, a deerskin (mrigcharma) draped across one shoulder and a simple saffron loincloth at the waist — the very picture of the boy-ascetic that Swaminarayan devotees hold so dear. The piece is hand-carved from Makrana white marble — the same dense, fine-grained stone prized for temple murtis for centuries — and then finished entirely in traditional hand-painted polychrome. A lifelike warm skin tone, the saffron-ochre of the kaupin, the earthy browns of the deerskin, the matted-hair topknot (jata) and the white-and-red U-shaped tilak-chandlo are all rendered by hand, so the murti reads as living darshan rather than plain stone. Tilak Mandirwala is a Jaipur-based curator of made-to-order devotional art. We do not run a carving line of our own; instead we design each piece and place it with a network of independent master sculptors and muralists, then oversee quality and safe delivery to your door. Every murti of this kind is carved and painted to order, so proportion, expression and the finish can be tuned to your shrine. At 24 inches it sits beautifully on a home mandir, a puja-room altar or a Swaminarayan haveli shrine, and it makes a deeply meaningful gift for a devotee, a housewarming or a festival like Nilkanth Varni Diksha or Swaminarayan Jayanti. Bring us your reference and we will shape the pose, ornamentation and colours to match the darshan you have in your heart — aapki kalpna, hamari rachna.