Golu 2024 @ Sobha Palladian !!

Golu :  ‘ A Thematic display of dolls and festive figurines by South Indian Hindus over Navaratri’ Wiki.

Navratri Golu is also called Bommai Golu in Tamil, Bommala Koluvu in AP & Bambe Hubba in Karnataka.

In Sobha Palladian, a few families regularly put up a grand Golu display each year . They spend a lot of time choosing (creating) the right theme for the year, shopping for additional bommais (dolls), creating the main structure (Golu steps called ‘Padis’) and augmenting the Golu with multiple thematic displays that feature current affairs, stories from purana and sometimes just give in to imagination and artistic expressions!

This year I visited 4 Golus and was mighty impressed by the creativity, the bright colorful display, the vast collection of traditions dolls and new figurines and the story sets and the collection  of souvenirs from various countries.

Check out the  small replica of the pristine white statue of Jesus the Redeemer (Corcovado Mountain, Rio, Brazil)! And  the leaning tower of PISA and the grand Colosseum in Rome !!

And I could spot a few more creative brilliance –

Likethe Chettiar shop selling provisions and prominently displaying his on-line payment QR code!! (Chettiar = Tamil version of a marwadi shopkeeper)

And the Ramayana set carefully arranged and indexed for folks to follow the proper sequence of events !

Check out if you can remember and identify a few of these event s??

Puthra Kameyshtii Yagam, Birth of Rama, Tadaka Vadham, Mareecha & Shubdhu Vadham,  Shabari Vimochanam, Sita Swayamvaeam,  Guhan Vimochanam, Rama Padukai pattabhishekam,  Suparnaka Incident ,  Jatayu, Vali,  Ravana Durbar,  . Sanjeevani Parvath & Kumbbhakarna awakening, Sita Agni Pareeksha and so on…

And the a pair of Kuttuvillakku beautifully decked up to signify  Lord Vishnu and his consort !! (Kuttuvillakku = a tall brass lamp) and the story of Mookambika wonderfully narrated and annotated with signboards.

And the elaborately constructed village scene with fruit vendor, chai/coffee stall,  a park with pink slide and Jhoola, and two ladies making ‘vadaams’ and another woman selling Koozhu Kanji !! (vadaam = a type of rice based pappadam / Koozhu Kanji – a type of thick porridge - very tasty !)

Each Golu was elaborately constructed and decorated. The large mann-bommais (mud figures) of all the various Gods & Goddess looked as good as new.

I know some of these traditional bommais have been handed over thru generations – especially the Marapaachi (Wood carvings of man/woman & child) signifying prosperity and ferrility. Check out if you can identify the Marapachi pair in each glolu !

The golus also had thematic additions which added contextual and modern relevance to the main displays.

Golu @ KK’s is most impressive.  

The display is set off against a lush greenery background of the wallpaper on the left side and a cascading waterfall that gives a feeling of being engulfed in nature. The wide display of souvenirs from various countries reflects their travels all around the globe.  

 Golu @ Sitara’s is a very cute 3 padi display  with bright big bonnais – each of them having a name tag to identify the gods and the scenario

Also, the Ramayana set with an elaborate explanation of each event. A must watch for all young children!

Golu at Dhyuti’s is a grand 7 padi display flanked by Mookambika story on the right  and Ravana Darbar and Navagraha on the left.

Golu at Sukanya is a mammoth 9 padi display highlighted by the bright eye-catching idol Sri Krishna !

This golu reflects the  devotion and commitment to our age old tradition. And the huge investment in bommais and the painstaking effort to put up such a huge and packed golu is strikingly obvious !

 

So, lets go on a visual tour of some displays …

The top  padis are packed with large imposing  traditional mann bommias of Lord Venkateshwara, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Nataraja, Brahma, Ganesha, Krishna, Rama and a host of other gods and goddesses.

And the Dasavatharam set is also a very common display occupying one of the top padis.

The next set consists of sages and saints and themes & sets of Lakshmi, Meenakshi Sundareshwara kalyanam, …………..

 And the familiar Ghatothkachan, Kumbhakarnan, ,  Rama-Sita, Kishna-Radha sets..

And we are bound to find the potbellied Chettiar and his dumpy wife in all golus!

And at Ravana’s darbar Hanuman was made to stand in front of Ravana who sat on a high throne and all his ministers who sat as well. This offended Hanuman and so he grew his long tail and coiled it to  fashion a tall seat for himself and sat,  towering over Ravana and his darbar! !!

Check out this lively song on Youtube : 'Na Raama saami dootan aanada! - hey Ravana" by Sanjay Subramanian,  meaning Hey Ravan, I am the messenger of Lord Ram..

And the village orchestra !

Kollur Mookambika.

Kollam Maharishi comes to Kollur and meditates. The Trimurthis Brahma, Shiva & Vishnu grant him  a boon to protect his village. In the same village there is an asura named   Mookasura who caused trouble to all the three lokas. The Devas pray to the Devi and requests her to kill him. Meanwhile Mookasura also meditates  and gets a boon, but before he could ask, the Devi shuts of f his moutn  and hence he was called Mooasura. The Devi came in the form of Mookambika and killed him. A few years later Adi Shankaracharya came here and meditated and built the statue of Mookambika. He also wrote the Soundarya Lahiri while sitting in front  of the  Saraswati mantapam here.

 

And the best parrt of going to a golu does not limit itself to the visual treat , You get payasam, and sundal  and maybe a sweet as well !!  I received  these at every home plus bananas and oranges and apples !!.   

 ANd I now look forward to next year’s Golu and hope there are a lot more Golus for me to visit !

Krish//

 

Krsih//