Chowki

About

The size is the whole decision A chowki is the low seat a murti stands on. It keeps the deity off the shelf surface, which is partly practical, since the altar is where oil and ash and flower water collect, and partly a matter of respect, because in most households a deity is not set down directly on the floor or the shelf. It is also the piece of a mandir people forget to buy and then need on the morning of a festival. The rule is that the seat is sized to the idol, not to the space available. Leave a margin on all four sides so the base is fully carried and nothing overhangs, but not so much that the seat becomes the thing you look at. Too small and the murti reads as precarious. Too large and the deity looks borrowed from a bigger altar. Measure the top surface rather than the overall footprint. A chowki often flares out at the base, so a seat described by its widest dimension can offer noticeably less usable top, and the difference is usually exactly the amount you needed. On the idol, measure the widest point of the base rather than the height, because a Ganesha on a spread lotus or a Devi with a broad crown takes more room than its height suggests. As a working guide: five inches suits a small murti of the kind that sits on a desk or a narrow ledge, six to seven inches carries most home mandir idols, and nine inches is right for a mid-size figure or for two or three small ones sharing a seat. Brass or the pearl finish, and water decides it Two things choose between them, and neither is taste. The first is weight. A heavy metal idol wants a seat that will not shift under it, and that means brass. A light plated or marble dust figure sits happily on a decorative seat and would look overbuilt on a metal one. The second is water, and this is the part worth reading twice. If you perform abhishek, the water does not stay on the idol. It runs down and collects on the seat. A brass murti bathed on a decorative seat will spoil the seat long before it marks the idol, an