Brass Ganesha wall hanging diya with bells

This is one of the few things in this shop that is both ornament and equipment. The lamps along the lower edge are real: they take oil and a wick and they light. That makes it different from a purely decorative wall piece, and it means the decisions about where to hang it are governed by fire rather than by how it looks.

The practical consequence is straightforward. An oil lamp burning against a wall will mark that wall with a dark plume above it, and on a painted surface that mark is permanent. If you intend to light it, hang it on tile, on stone, or with a metal or glass backing plate behind it. If you do not intend to light it, it works perfectly well as an ornament and none of this applies.

The bells at the bottom are the part people underestimate. They move, which means they sound whenever a door closes or a fan runs, and whether that is charming or maddening depends entirely on where the piece hangs. Beside a frequently used door it will ring all day. In a quiet corner of a prayer room it will sound perhaps twice, which is closer to the intention.

Six hundred and fifty grams is not heavy for a wall, but it is heavy enough that the fixing matters. A single nail in plaster will hold it until the day it does not. Use a proper plug and screw, sized for the wall, and check the hanging loop on the back is cast rather than soldered, since a soldered loop is the usual failure point on brass wall pieces.

Ganesha at the top is conventional for an entrance piece: he is the deity invoked at the start of things, and a doorway is a beginning in the most literal sense, which is why so much Indian brass work for entrances carries his image. There is nothing particular to any one sampradaya about it and it is at home in a Vaishnava household as much as anywhere.

One point that applies to every lit object in a home. The decision to burn something is a decision about the wall behind it, the surface below it and whoever walks past it, and those decisions are much easier made before the piece is on its hook. A few minutes of thought buys twenty years of an unmarked wall.

What to look for before buying

Decide whether you will actually light it. A lit oil lamp against a wall leaves a permanent soot plume. If the answer is yes, plan for tile, stone or a backing plate before the piece arrives. If the answer is no, the lamps are fine as they are and the piece can hang anywhere. Most people decide this after they have hung it and marked the paint, which is the wrong order.

Look at the hanging loop on the back. Brass wall pieces fail at the loop. A loop cast as part of the back plate is permanent; one soldered on afterwards will eventually part, usually with no warning. If the listing shows no view of the reverse, request one, and treat a missing rear image on a wall piece as worth querying.

Think about where the bells will be. Hanging bells sound whenever air moves. Next to a door or under a fan they will ring continuously, which most people find wears thin within a week. In a still corner they sound occasionally, which is the intended effect. It costs nothing to think about before choosing the spot and is difficult to fix afterwards.

Keeping it, and where it sits

Clean the lamp cups after every use rather than letting oil sit. Oil left in a brass cup goes sticky and then rancid, it collects dust into a paste, and it eventually varnishes onto the metal in a layer that is genuinely difficult to remove. A wipe with a dry cloth while the cup is still slightly warm takes seconds.

Take the piece down to clean it properly rather than working on it in place. Cleaning brass on a wall means paste and residue run down the paint, and lemon or tamarind left on a painted wall marks it. Once or twice a year off the hook, cleaned over a sink, is the sensible pattern.

Keep the bell clappers dry and free of oil. If they are oiled, or if cleaning paste gets inside them, they collect dust and stop swinging freely, and a bell that does not swing simply hangs there silently. Dry cloth only, and nothing lubricating anywhere near them.

Put felt pads on the back at the lower corners. It stops the piece knocking against the wall when the bells move, keeps the brass off the paint, and removes the faint rattle that otherwise happens every time somebody walks past. It is the cheapest improvement available to any brass wall hanging.

None of this is required. What Maharaj Ji actually asks for is set out on the teachings page, the sayings he repeats most are on the quotes page, and the stotras are free to download as PDFs. If you are planning to visit Vrindavan, read how to meet Maharaj Ji first.

Also worth reading: the photo gallery , and questions people ask.