Narmada riverbank artisan families
Narmada bank, Bharuch district, Gujarat
Collected as a loose surface stone near Bharuch and framed by riverbank artisan families.
Every purchase supports sustainable livelihoods, preserves traditional knowledge and strengthens women-led producer groups in this village. You are not buying a product — you are joining a community.
Narmadeshwar Banalinga in Teak Frame
by Narmada Riverbank Artisans, Bharuch
A naturally formed Narmadeshwar Banalinga, hand-polished with river sand and set in a solid teak frame for a home altar.
"We do not carve these. The river does. We only clean them and make them a place to sit."
100% of the profit reaches the artisan. Anudaan collects 0% platform fee on marketplace orders.
Want to do more than buy?
Bamboo craft training for tribal women self-help groups
Jhagadia, Gujarat · 60% funded
The story behind this piece
The Narmada is the one river where tradition holds that darshan alone purifies — you need not step in. Born, in different tellings, of Shiva's sweat or Brahma's teardrops, she is addressed as a mother, not a waterway.
In her bed, quartz is turned over by the current for centuries until it comes out smooth and elliptical — the exact form of the Shivling. These are Banalingas, and because the river shaped them, they are considered divine as found. No consecration ritual is required before worship.
The families who collect them take only loose stones from the surface. Each one is washed, hand-polished with river sand over several days, and set into a teak frame cut by a carpenter two villages away.
This category already sells in large volumes online, almost entirely through resellers who have never seen the river. Buying it here returns the margin to the district the stone came from.
How it's made
- 1Loose surface stones collected from the Narmada bank — never quarried.
- 2Washed and graded by form; only clean elliptical stones are kept.
- 3Hand-polished with river sand across 4–5 days, no chemical buffing.
- 4Set in a teak frame and finished with beeswax.
What your purchase changes
- • ₹2,400 supports a week of work across a collector and a finisher.
- • Sourcing is logged stone by stone — the collector sets the floor price.
- • Funds the Bharuch tribal livelihoods cause alongside every sale.
