Nine nights of decked up dolls – Navaratri

OMG, September is here and with it another Navaratri. I feel as though I just finished designing last year’s display and this year’s Golu is just 1 day away. Time literally flies!!
Now for the uninitiated, Navaratri (meaning 9 nights) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the Feminine power and the triumph of Goddess Durga. People in different parts of India, celebrate is differently and you can find my previous posts on navaratri here. In the west people have Garbha and Dandiya dance programmes (where they dance with sticks and pots), In the east we have Durga Puja, in central India we have Ravana Vad and finally in the South we keep a display of dolls called Golu or bommai golu (display of Dolls) for nine days and nine nights.
Every year I do a thematic display, Last year’s was Vishwaroopam or Infinite Manifestation, this year the theme is “Craft” and I am displaying 70+ types of crafts from pottery to basketry to weaving and my house looks as if hit by a tornado :P. I will post pictures once the display is put up.
But no matter what the theme is, There are a few set of dolls (usually made of clay or paper machie) which always find their way to the shelves or Golu padi (steps).  Among these, the most popular are are the Dashavatar and Asthalakshmi. So before I show you Golu pics, I will show pictures of jewelry inspired by golu 😀 Fist Up –

Asthalakshmi – meaning 8 forms of wealth

Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of Wealth and Wife of Lord Vishnu. The eight forms of wealth in this context are Adhi lakshmi – Primeval strength
Dhana lakshmi – Money 
Dhanya lakshmi – food
Dhairya lakshmi – courage
Gaja lakshmi – animal wealth/cattle; Royal power
Santhana lakshmi – Children
Vijaya lakshmi – victory
vidhya lakshmi – Knowledge

In my necklace I have used Eight images of Lakshmi In the tanjore painting style set in resin in antique brass bezels representing eight forms of wealth and prosperity. The pendants are braided into the golden cords which are wire wrapped like a cage to take the weight at the same time fall soft on the neck. Pearl sarafa or rope cord keeps it sturdy and can be used to vary the length. Length excl pendant -25″ (adjustable with rope) , pendant drop – 1.5″.

Dasavatar Necklace

Dasavatar refers to the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu – basically showing the evolution of life from a fish to a man who in the end becomes a slayer. This is the closest religious support that you could find for Darwin’s theory of evolution. The incarnations are Matsya – fish, Kurma – tortise, Varaha- boar, Narasimha – half man-half lion (and my favourite), Vamana – (dimensionless man – first a dwarf and then a giant), Parashurama (warrior), Rama(most righteous king to ever rule on earth) , Balrama (man with the strength of a serpent), Krishna (Prince & political savant),  and Kalki (destroyer at the end of all time).

So how do you like these pieces? I learnt a lot while making these pieces as I had to find a way to make a cord that took the weight yet was soft of the skin. After a lot of experimentation I settled on braiding and crochet but it took a lot more tries to think of the closure and even more effort to recreate them on order. Both are sold.

I will post this year’s Golu pics soon
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers

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