Teak Bed with Pierced Carved Headboard

What The Photos Do Not Show

The whole base under the mattress is a box. Lift the mattress off, the platform comes up, and the storage runs the full length and width of the bed. That is where the razais go in March and come out in November, along with the wedding sarees and the spare pillows for when relatives stay. Keep the daily things elsewhere, since you are not taking a mattress off every morning for a hairdryer.

The 14 Medallions

7 on the headboard, 7 on the footboard, each one a kamal opening out inside a circle with a ring of small dots cut around it. They are carved in relief so the flower stands up from the panel, and every one is cut by hand, which is why each is a little different from the next when you look closely. Around the row runs a rope border, then a band of scalloped leaves, then along the top a chain of small flowers, 3 borders before you reach the plain wood. The footboard carries the same 3 borders and the same 7, so the bed reads the same from the door and from the pillow. The side panels are left plain, framed and flat, because the sides go against the wall or behind the bedside tables and no one sees them, and carving there would be paid for and never looked at.

Shaadi Ka Palang

In a lot of families this is the bed bought at the wedding and it does not leave the house after that. Sagwan takes 40 years without complaint, the finish darkens a shade every decade, and the medallions get a polish before every big function. So the size matters more than usual, because you are not changing it later. It is a king, 6 by 6.5 feet, which means the room needs about 8 feet clear on the long side to walk around it with the bedside tables in place.