An original design, made to order
A mandir built the way the real ones are
A proper shikhar, a garbhagruh, a kalash and every moulding in between, at 33.4 cm. Big enough to be a real mandir, small enough to put wherever you want one. It holds a murti you already own, up to 8 by 9 cm. Choose the top and the colour, and it is made for you in the UK.
Made to order in 5 to 7 working days
Delivered from the UK
Sekhari top · White
Four tops. One mandir.
The shikhar (the tower over the shrine) is what gives a mandir its character, and it is the one decision that changes the whole silhouette. Pick one to see it on the body above. Yours is built with the top you choose here.
White, or ivory
The same satin paint in two colours: a neutral white, and a warm ivory nearer the stone the full-size mandirs are cut from. Both are £89, because every piece is sanded and finished by hand either way. It is the last decision, and then it is made.
Both are sprayed by hand, so a screen can only get you close: treat these as a guide to the difference between the two rather than an exact colour sample.
Happy with that? Order it now.
Buy now · £89The parts a temple-shaped box leaves out
Anyone can make a pointed box and call it a mandir. What tells you it was drawn from real architecture is the run of small mouldings that nobody would add unless they knew they belonged there.
- Pitha
- a stepped, moulded base rather than a plain block
- Pilaster bases and capitals
- each corner pier is turned top and bottom
- String course
- a band running the wall at the springing line
- Two-order arch
- the opening is trimmed twice, not cut straight through
- Kapota eave
- the eave throws a shadow line above the wall
- Dentil cornice
- a run of small blocks under the eave, cut individually
How big it actually is
Drawn to scale against an A4 sheet and a mug, because "33.4 cm" means nothing until you put it next to something. It has real presence and is not a doll's house piece: a little taller than a sheet of A4 stood on its end.
Taller than a sheet of A4 stood on its end, and about three and a half times the height of a mug.
- Assembled
- 33.4 x 16 x 10.6 cm
- Front opening
- 9.2 cm wide
- Inner chamber
- 11.2 x 6.6 cm
- Takes a murti up to
- 8 x 9 x 4 cm
The murti is not included. It slides in through the front and sits in a shallow tray on the plinth, with a little over half a centimetre of clearance each side at the full 8 cm width, and 14.8 cm of clear height above the seat. The arch springs above head height, so nothing of the face is hidden.
It fits. Order yours.
Buy now · £89Yours is made after you order it
Which is the reason it takes a week rather than a day, and the reason the top and the colour are yours to choose rather than whatever happened to be in stock.
Made for you, not pulled off a shelf
Nothing is sitting in a warehouse. Yours is made after you order it, in the top and the colour you picked, which is why it takes 5 to 7 working days rather than arriving tomorrow.
Arrives whole and ready
It comes assembled and finished, with no fixings on show anywhere and nothing for you to put together. Stand it up, put your murti in through the front, and it is done.
Sized around a real murti
The chamber is built around a murti of a specific size rather than left to chance, and the arch springs above head height, so the face is not hidden by the thing meant to house it.
An original design
This is not a scan of some other model, and it is not a shape bought off a marketplace. It was drawn from the classical proportions, sized around a real murti, and test fitted before it was offered to anybody.
Straight answers
No. It is built to hold a murti you already have, or one you choose yourself, up to 8 cm wide by 9 cm tall by 4 cm deep. It passes through a 9.2 cm front opening and sits in a shallow tray, so it lifts straight back out whenever you want.
No, and this one matters. The material softens at around 60 C, so a diya, a candle, an agarbatti or a nearby radiator will damage it, and a flame inside an enclosed chamber is a fire risk in any case. It is a display piece. If you want flame, it belongs somewhere else in the room.
Treat it as an ornament rather than a toy. It is solid where you stand it and will take being picked up and dusted without complaint. It will not survive a drop onto a hard floor, and it is not built for a household where it will be handled by small children.
Yes, up until we start making it. The mandir is built with the top and the colour you chose and they are fixed on the finished piece, so it cannot be changed afterwards. Reply to the confirmation email and we will change the order before anything is made.
It is not tied to one. The shapes come from classical Hindu temple architecture, the Nagara spire types and the tiered and domed hall roofs that recur across North Indian mandirs, so it sits comfortably in any Hindu home. It carries no organisation name, logo or imagery and is not connected to any temple or sampradaya.
The UK and Europe for now: the EEA plus Switzerland. Each one is made after it is ordered, so allow 5 to 7 working days plus postage, and we confirm the postage to your country before you pay. If you are somewhere else, choose "Somewhere else" on the form and tell us where. We will not take an order we cannot deliver, but we will let you know when we can post there.
Send it back. You have 14 days from the day it arrives to change your mind, for any reason, and you do not have to give one. Tell us through the contact form on the terms page, post it back within 14 days of telling us, and we refund the price and the standard delivery you paid. Return postage is yours. That is your legal right on anything bought at a distance, and choosing a top and a finish from the ones here does not take it away.
No card details are taken on this page. You get an email confirming the top and finish you chose, the delivery date and the postage to your country, and you pay once that is agreed. If anything is not right, you say so and nothing has been charged.
Your mandir
- Top
- Sekhari
- Finish
- White
- Size
- 33.4 x 16 x 10.6 cm
- Price
- £89
Change the top or the colour above and this updates. Yours is made after we confirm the order, so the choice is yours right up until then.
Or have one made to your own
The four on this page are what we make as standard. They are not the limit of it. Every one was designed from scratch, so the same can be done again and built around whatever you actually need.
- 01
Built around your murti
The chamber and opening set out around a murti you already own.
- 02
A dedication underneath
A name or a date cut into the base, for one given as a gift.
- 03
A different form
Another shikhar, another body, or a shape from a mandir you know.
A commission takes longer than the five to seven working days a standard piece takes, because it has to be designed before it can be made. How much longer depends on what you ask for, and we agree it with you before anything starts. If what you want is not something we can make properly, we will tell you that instead of taking the order.
Quote on request
Tell us the job
The murti you have, the top you want, the wording for underneath. The more you can say, the closer the first answer will be.