NAVARATHRI (KOLU)
Festivals in Hindu culture are aplenty all through the year – starting from Varuzha Pirappu, to Deepavali, to Pongal.
But, no festival, not even Deepavali, can match Navarathri for the splendor and richness. In Bengal, it is THE POOJA. The entire State wears a festive look these ten days. In Mysore and Karnataka it is opulence personified. In Gujarat and Mumbai it is Dandia - garba time. In many cities like Delhi it is Ram Leela. Hyderabad will be shining during these 10 days. The entire country is decked up. No other festival can simply match Navarathri. The festival to celebrate the triumph of GOOD over evil.
In TamilNadu we celebrate it as a private, not a community, festival. Decades ago the festival was simple, performed with bhakti-shradda. Steps (padi) were made with whatever available material, clay dolls of Gods and Goddesses in their purest form were only displayed, young girls going about personally inviting others, and SINGING in all the houses they visited. Today, the festival has changed – more pompous and showy.
The pre-preparation for today’s Kolu is enormous. Meticulous planning starts a fortnight in advance with “what gifts to give for the guests?” What gift we gave previous years, what gift we received – these points are analysed and then an optimum solution found. Product-spectrum and price-band thus solved, procurement action begins with visits to many places from Parrys to Purasai to Mylapore to evaluate the choices offered. We purchased ours from Jayanagar, Bangalore.
Next, purchase of “new” dolls is done. This year being the thalai Kolu for both Neeraja and Krithika, we had all-new Kolus in Bangalore and in Chennai. Double Luxury. Sugavanam had purchased ‘Abdul Kalam addressing children’.
The erection of Kolu steps starts with searching for spanners 13 and 14, and after 2 hours of sweat, the Kolu Padi gets ready. A couple of veshtis go into draping. Color paper decoration follows – have you gone to a marketplace just before the Kolu? They are literally flooded with these – what a variety and color!
The dolls are then arranged on the steps. Not arbitrarily or randomly. Everything follows a method, a sampradayam. You should know your puranams well to keep the dasavatharam dolls in the correct order! Or, which side of Sri Rama will Sita be.
We are today unaware of many traditions, but what we know we try to follow. If Krithika’s mother keeps a very elaborate KOLU, someone keeps a simple one. Though Kalyani was unwell, Jayaraman and Vijay kept a simple Kolu, this year. Everyone keeps.
Dolls kept, flashing made-in-China serial lights in place (does India make these serial lights any more?), the sideby Park ready (Krithika used Kezhvaragu on wet sands to create a luscious greenery) – now is the time to observe the magnificence and be enthralled. A brilliant and colorful venture in shining glory, made possible by the sweat and toil of everyone in your family. A true joint family effort. Be proud of your family. I am.
Hold another brainstorming session – what sundal to make each day, kadalai paruppu, koththukkadalai, nilakkadalai, pattaani, kaaramani?
Invite everyone through telephone. And get invited by phone, in turn. (personal invites are passé). Those days people may not have gone beyond their own street, but today nobody thinks twice to crisscross a city like Chennai. We took a “10hr – 100km” taxi, Sugavanam did similarly, Padma akka engaged an ‘auto’ for the day! At the end of the day, your house is swamped with coconuts, apples, saathukudis et al. (How many days can you eat thengai thugaiyal?)
After ten hectic days comes the hardest part – restoring the dolls, all HINDU-ed up, to their resting places and the padis dismantled (much easier to dismantle, appaada), and kept in a safe place alongwith the slotted-angles. The house brought back to normalcy. Everything in its original place. Till the Navarathri Poojai next year.
Rajappa
25 Oct 2004
Festivals in Hindu culture are aplenty all through the year – starting from Varuzha Pirappu, to Deepavali, to Pongal.
But, no festival, not even Deepavali, can match Navarathri for the splendor and richness. In Bengal, it is THE POOJA. The entire State wears a festive look these ten days. In Mysore and Karnataka it is opulence personified. In Gujarat and Mumbai it is Dandia - garba time. In many cities like Delhi it is Ram Leela. Hyderabad will be shining during these 10 days. The entire country is decked up. No other festival can simply match Navarathri. The festival to celebrate the triumph of GOOD over evil.
In TamilNadu we celebrate it as a private, not a community, festival. Decades ago the festival was simple, performed with bhakti-shradda. Steps (padi) were made with whatever available material, clay dolls of Gods and Goddesses in their purest form were only displayed, young girls going about personally inviting others, and SINGING in all the houses they visited. Today, the festival has changed – more pompous and showy.
The pre-preparation for today’s Kolu is enormous. Meticulous planning starts a fortnight in advance with “what gifts to give for the guests?” What gift we gave previous years, what gift we received – these points are analysed and then an optimum solution found. Product-spectrum and price-band thus solved, procurement action begins with visits to many places from Parrys to Purasai to Mylapore to evaluate the choices offered. We purchased ours from Jayanagar, Bangalore.
Next, purchase of “new” dolls is done. This year being the thalai Kolu for both Neeraja and Krithika, we had all-new Kolus in Bangalore and in Chennai. Double Luxury. Sugavanam had purchased ‘Abdul Kalam addressing children’.
The erection of Kolu steps starts with searching for spanners 13 and 14, and after 2 hours of sweat, the Kolu Padi gets ready. A couple of veshtis go into draping. Color paper decoration follows – have you gone to a marketplace just before the Kolu? They are literally flooded with these – what a variety and color!
The dolls are then arranged on the steps. Not arbitrarily or randomly. Everything follows a method, a sampradayam. You should know your puranams well to keep the dasavatharam dolls in the correct order! Or, which side of Sri Rama will Sita be.
We are today unaware of many traditions, but what we know we try to follow. If Krithika’s mother keeps a very elaborate KOLU, someone keeps a simple one. Though Kalyani was unwell, Jayaraman and Vijay kept a simple Kolu, this year. Everyone keeps.
Dolls kept, flashing made-in-China serial lights in place (does India make these serial lights any more?), the sideby Park ready (Krithika used Kezhvaragu on wet sands to create a luscious greenery) – now is the time to observe the magnificence and be enthralled. A brilliant and colorful venture in shining glory, made possible by the sweat and toil of everyone in your family. A true joint family effort. Be proud of your family. I am.
Hold another brainstorming session – what sundal to make each day, kadalai paruppu, koththukkadalai, nilakkadalai, pattaani, kaaramani?
Invite everyone through telephone. And get invited by phone, in turn. (personal invites are passé). Those days people may not have gone beyond their own street, but today nobody thinks twice to crisscross a city like Chennai. We took a “10hr – 100km” taxi, Sugavanam did similarly, Padma akka engaged an ‘auto’ for the day! At the end of the day, your house is swamped with coconuts, apples, saathukudis et al. (How many days can you eat thengai thugaiyal?)
After ten hectic days comes the hardest part – restoring the dolls, all HINDU-ed up, to their resting places and the padis dismantled (much easier to dismantle, appaada), and kept in a safe place alongwith the slotted-angles. The house brought back to normalcy. Everything in its original place. Till the Navarathri Poojai next year.
Rajappa
25 Oct 2004
Comments
Post a Comment