What size mandir fits your room?

Three numbers decide it, and only three:

1. The clear wall width. Wall to wall, or the gap between whatever is already standing there. Not the width of the room.
2. The ceiling height. Floor to ceiling at that wall, measured at the wall and not in the middle of the room.
3. The tallest murti that has to stand inside, measured including its base.

The third is the one people leave until last, and it is the one that most often decides the answer.

Why the murti governs

A mandir's outside dimensions tell you whether it fits the wall. They tell you nothing about whether your murtis fit inside it. The bay, the opening the murtis stand in, is always shorter than the piece, because the spire, the crest and the base all sit outside it.

The failure looks like this: a piece is chosen on outside width, it arrives, and the murti that has stood in the family for thirty years is two centimetres too tall for the bay. Nothing about that is recoverable once the piece is made.

So measure the murti first, then find the pieces whose bay clears it, then check those against the wall.

Measuring properly

The wall. Measure at the height the piece will occupy, not at skirting level. Skirting boards, architraves, power points and light switches all eat into usable width. If the piece stands on the floor, note how far the skirting projects. A piece with a flat back sits out from the wall by that much unless it is scribed.

The ceiling. Measure at the wall. Ceilings are not always level, and a cornice reduces the usable height at the edges of the room, which is exactly where the piece is going. If you have a ceiling fan or a pendant anywhere near, measure to that instead.

The murti. Height including the base it stands on, not the figure alone. If it will sit on a cloth or a small plinth inside the mandir, add that. Measure the widest point too: a seated figure with arms out is wider than it looks.

The route in. The doorway, the turn at the top of the stairs, the lift. Covered separately in a mandir in a rental or an apartment, because it applies to houses too.

What the sizes are for

Broadly, and regardless of who makes the piece:

• Compact pieces are made for a bench, a low shelf or a console rather than the floor. They suit a bedroom, a study, or a first mandir. Measure from the surface the piece will sit on, not from the carpet.
• Everyday pieces stand on the floor and put the murti at roughly chest height for someone standing. This is the size most families end up with.
• Family pieces are wider rather than taller, for more than one murti side by side.
• Grand and above need a dedicated wall and usually a dedicated room, and the ceiling binds before the wall does.

The common mistakes

• Measuring the room instead of the wall. The piece goes against a wall, and what matters is the clear run of it.
• Forgetting the murti. Covered above; it is the expensive one.
• Ignoring depth. A piece that stands 40 cm off the wall in a 90 cm hallway leaves 50 cm to walk past. That is a squeeze, and it is how carved edges get knocked.
• Not allowing for doors. If the piece has doors or a pull-out step, it needs clear floor in front of it, not just against the wall.
• Buying to the maximum. The largest piece that fits is not the same as the right piece for the room. A mandir that fills a wall to the centimetre reads as cramped.

Send us the measurements

Send the three measurements (clear wall width, ceiling height and tallest murti) and we will tell you which sizes fit that wall and which do not, before you choose anything. That is what the size check is for, and it costs nothing.