Rituals · 3 min read
Bringing a murti home: sthapana basics
What families most often ask us about placing and consecrating a new murti at home.
For a home mandir, tradition favours the north-east corner (ishan kon), with the murti facing west or east so the family faces east or west during pooja — our buying guide covers direction in detail. Place the murti on a clean chowki or sinhasan, never directly on the floor.
Before first worship, the murti is bathed (panchamrit abhishek for plain marble; for painted and gold-leaf pieces, a symbolic sprinkle of Gangajal — never a full bath), dressed, and welcomed with a simple pran pratishtha. For home murtis many families do a short version themselves on an auspicious day; for temples, a pandit performs the full vidhi. There is no single "correct" scale of ceremony — shraddha matters more than shastra here.
One practical note from the workshop: schedule delivery at least a week before your chosen muhurat. Transport delays are the most common reason a sthapana gets postponed — see our festival calendar for order-by dates.