Makrana White Marble Mahaganapati of Ranjangaon on Singhasan, Multi-Armed, 24 in

The eighth swaroop of the Ashtavinayak yatra

Mahaganapati of Ranjangaon is where the Ashtavinayak circuit closes. The temple stands at Ranjangaon in Shirur taluka, Pune district, and by tradition it is the last of the eight swaroops a pilgrim reaches after Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri and Ozar. The name carries a story with it: Shiva is said to have worshipped Ganesha on this spot before setting out against the demon Tripurasura, and the deity here is remembered as Mahaganapati, the great form. The sanctum as it stands today was built in the Peshwa period and faces east, so that at certain times of the year the morning sun falls directly on the murti. The image that receives daily worship sits above an older one, called Mahotkat, which tradition holds is sealed in a vault beneath the floor.

The Makrana stone and its satin finish

Makrana white marble comes out of the quarries of Nagaur district in Rajasthan, beds that have been worked for centuries and that supplied the Taj Mahal. It is a bright, neutral white with a fine crystalline grain and only faint grey hairline veining, and it is dense enough to hold an undercut without chipping. That is exactly what a piece like this asks of a stone, with jewellery, a throne back and two attendant figures all cut at small scale. This murti is finished to a soft satin polish rather than a mirror, and the difference matters in a mandir: a satin surface gathers lamp flame and morning light in a slow, even glow across the belly and the throne, where a mirror finish throws hard highlights that flatten the carving.

Reading the form

Mahaganapati is described in the Ganesha tradition as the expansive, multi-armed form of the deity — eight arms in some accounts, ten in others, more in a few — seated in state with Riddhi and Siddhi. This murti follows that description without settling on a fixed count. He sits cross-legged on a carved singhasan, broad-browed and potbellied, his right tusk broken, a modak held in the front hand and the mushak turned up towards him at the base. The trunk curls to his own left, which reads across to your right as you stand in front of him — the vamamukhi form kept for daily household worship. Riddhi and Siddhi are seated one on either side of the throne, each carved with her own crown, jewellery and draped sari.

Sizing it for your mandir

At 24 inches the murti stands two feet tall and about twenty inches across at the throne, so it wants a shelf or platform of at least 24 inches with a foot of depth. The stepped plinth is part of the carving and should sit fully supported rather than overhanging. At roughly 44 kg this is a piece that stays where it is installed instead of moving between rooms: a masonry ledge or a solid wooden platform carries it comfortably, a light glass shelf does not. Households usually keep a Ganesha murti on the east or north-east side of the mandir, facing into the room. The scale suits a dedicated pooja room or a family mandir rather than a narrow apartment niche.

Other sizes, other stones

The same Mahaganapati can be made smaller for a compact mandir or larger for a temple hall — tell us the shelf or the alcove you have in mind and we will size the piece to it. It can also be carved in Vietnam white marble, in black stone or in Dholpur pink sandstone, and cast in marble dust where the budget calls for it. We design it with you, brief the master sculptors we work with in Jaipur, and follow the piece through to your door.