You have concerns about keeping your home altar and deities child safe? I completely get it! I did too. In fact, back in 2017 when my children were young, it was on my mind a lot.
For my daughter, I got these small metal forms of Krishna Balaram. They did occasionally fall over during dressing.
My mother worships small forms of Gaur Nitai, and allowing the grandchildren to assist is a bit stressful, because sometimes the kids may accidentally knock them over. So she doesn’t really allow Nitaigaur to be handled except by her. It’s ok though, because now she has the largest Krishna deity in person. His form is made from marble, and the stability is no longer an issue.
Naturally, most of us can’t have 4 foot deities in our home mandir (and really, He is VERY difficult to move, it’s more of a temple size). I realized I needed to update my previous advice on welcoming a deity to your home.
Now I have many years more experience in preparing marble deity forms. Because of my tests with different bases you can insert the deity into for stability, I have new opinions! Because of this, I feel confident sharing fresh ideas to child-proof your altar and ease your worries.
Why a Separate Marble Base Ensures Total Stability
To stabilise a marble deity form, ordering a separate marble base is wonderful! In carving, keep the base separate from the deity form. The weight of the base would be too great for the fine carving of the Lord’s form.
Here’s an example of a carved separate lotus base, and the Lord form that inserts directly into the lotus base.
BalaGopal: Darling Child
Fall in love with BalaGopal, a delicate hand-carved marble deity of Krishna with loving eyes and a soft, gentle colouring. This sweetest form comes with a curling black wig and glimmering pearl jewelry. Seven exquisite outfits adorn this sweet and fresh boyish form of dear sweet Krishna.
Standing 15 inches tall on His carved marble lotus base. He’s sized for easy daily care — light enough to lift in and out, and a good size for dressing. Perfect for stability and laying Him to sleep at nights — use our measuring guide if you’d like to see exactly how He’ll sit at home.
This is a one-of-a-kind vigraha — once He is claimed, there will never be another exactly like Him. If His beauty has already found a home in your heart, don’t let this chance slip away.
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How stable are deities with a separate base they insert into? Once you stand Him in the base, He is so stable! Accidental bumps during daily dressing or by curious toddler hands won’t easily knock Him over.
You can easily order a lotus base after you already have the deity forms. A few photos and measurements will make them match up nicely. Simply trace around the base of the lord, and measure from all sides. Photos work best, and if you want me to assist you in arranging that, please feel free reach out.
The base recess may be slightly loose, so you could fill it in a little. Use Blue-tac, natural beeswax (my go to for all things deity adhering), or you can also use a little air – hardening epoxy clay like MouldIt. amazon.com.au/Modeling-Compound-Sculpting-Building-Repairing/ here’s a link for one I have used in past. It’s easy to mix the 2 part ratio and mold into place. Place the statue/deity in to test and adjust the modeling compound before it sets over time.
Creative DIY Deity Bases: Wood, Concrete, & Resin
Now if ordering a base is beyond your current means, you may want to delve into creating your own DIY base! You can do this in many creative ways.
For example, my artist friend Radha das created a carved wooden base for his beautiful Krishna.
DIY WOOD Deity Base
In New Zealand, Jahnavi dasi and her husband Rama das, carved a tree stump into a fitted base for their deity.
DIY Concrete Base
Another lovely family serving a charming Radha & Radhakanta.
They shared photos of the concrete bases they made for the stability of their sweet deity forms.
“Since the Krishna’s base is not perfectly even we decided to make a stand out of concrete. By using concrete we were able to press the base into the poured mixture and get a perfect opening for the Krishna’s base. Then we get it primed and painted a week later. We hope Radha and Radhakanta love it.
I personally, never worked with concrete and my family members too. That was my husband’s idea and I must say it worked out just perfectly. After the job was done our son had some fun painting it. I just a little bit helped him. So it looks like whole family had a service.” Ekaterina
Resin Base
Meanwhile dear devotees family in the UK serves the most gorgeous 18inch Krishna deity. She is making a resin base like a lotus pond for her beautiful boy.
Resin stand Georgina used is specifically for deep pour like the river tables you see online. These are her tips on creation to help you get started:
It take 48 H to set, depending on the room temperature it can set a bit faster. The resin has a 6 h window to work on, enough time to place all the components you like.
This family is so crafty they also are making the Lord some brass flutes! (and have promised me one, thank you my friends!) You can explore and view the awesome resin base diy project on her instagram account, follow this link Aren’t Krishna crafts just the greatest?!
Last-Minute Abhishek Base Solution for Janmashtami
For our abhishek I had a LOT of last minute madness making a base for my dear friend Radharani dasi’s Krishna deity. He’s 15inches tall, a dressed deity form of Lord. For 3 years now, we have invited Him to come and accept a bathing ceremony for our Janmashtami celebrations.
Because in past bathing Him has been somewhat stressful, one would hold the ankles while others bathed Him. So it was great this year to create a separate base He could insert into for the purpose of bathing. Because it was a last minute project (honestly, we all know Krishna’s appearance day comes every year, how many rushed activities do we all do?! So crazy).
Anyhow, I am putting together a blog post about how I created it, and I’ll make a new one with a tutorial for you, seeing as my documentation was… shall we say, haphazard.
In summary, a fitted marble base (or DIY insert base) is one of the most effective ways to child-proof your home mandir deities and protect them during daily shringar or bathing. And of course, as an added layer of safety, keeping the main altar platform just out of reach of toddlers gives you complete peace of mind!
Have you made a base? Please share some photos and I’ll update this post with your pictures, or write a new blog just to share.