Handcrafted Makrana White Marble Khatu Shyam Ji Shish Darshan Murti, 12in

The Khatu shish darshan, carved as a stele panel

At Khatu in Sikar district, Rajasthan, what the devotee comes for is the shish — the head of Barbarika, given to Krishna before the Mahabharata began and worshipped ever since as Shyam Baba, the deity who gives to whoever asks. This 12-inch murti keeps to the way that form has always been made for the home. It is not a figure in the round but a mukhota: the face rises in high relief out of an arched marble stele that carries it, so the darshan is complete in itself. A carved band of marigold flowers follows the full curve of the arch, the crowned mukut is topped by a peacock plume, a tilak marks the forehead, and the right hand lifts in ashirwad from the lower panel. The face is young and beardless, as Barbarika was.

Makrana white marble, softly polished

The stone is Makrana white marble, quarried in Nagaur district about 250 km from Jaipur and the same marble the Taj Mahal was built from. It is calcite-dense and bright natural white with the faintest warm undertone, and it holds a fine edge — which is what a relief panel asks for, since every flower in the garland border and every strand of hair is cut only a few millimetres deep. The finish is a soft satin polish rather than a mirror gloss, so light settles into the carving instead of skidding across it, and the face keeps its softness at close range.

Sized for a home mandir shelf

The panel stands 12 inches tall and 7.5 inches wide, and is about 4 inches deep at the base — shallow enough to sit flush against the back wall of a home mandir, where a statue in the round would need a shelf twice as deep. It weighs roughly 9.5 kg, so an ordinary wooden or marble shelf holds it without any bracket. Placed about 32 inches from the floor, the face comes to the eye of someone seated for aarti.

Making it yours

Every piece is made to your brief. Tell us the size you have room for, the stone you want it in, and whether the garland border should be deeper or plainer, and we design it with you before anything is cut. The murti is then carved for you by the master sculptors we work with in and around Jaipur, and a commission of this kind takes 8–12 weeks. We handle the packing, the paperwork and the delivery to your door. If you are working to a date, say so early — there may already be a carved piece with the sculptors we work with, and we will send you photographs of it.