Yesterday, i.e Saturday, 17th October 2020, I had been to my uncle’s house to see their GOLLU and as per tradition also sing few devotional songs. My dad had recorded a video of me singing the songs and shared it with few of my cousins abroad. One of my cousin’s friend, named Cathy was interested in knowing more about Gollu. The following is a brief of our conversation which I thought I shall share with you all.
Cathy: What is Gollu?
Dhamathi: Gollu is a South Indian way of celebrating Navaratri. On this day South Indians display idols of different type of Gods and Goddesses and worship them for nine days and nine nights.
Cathy: From when to when is the festival celebrated?
Dhamathi: Display dolls start on Ammavasa day and ends on Vijaya Dashami day.
Cathy: What are the idols made of?
Dhamathi: The idols and dolls of Gods, Goddesses and other items kept on display are usually made of clay, wood, glass, paper-machie, etc.
Cathy: How many steps are kept for gollu?
Dhamathi: The display steps are always kept in the odd numbers like 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11.
Cathy: What is the most main and important thing during the poojas?
Dhamathi: The most main and important things are “marapachi bommai” and “kalasam”.
Cathy: What are the different types of idols displayed?
Dhamathi: Traditionally the idols of Shiva, Parvathi, Ganesha and Kumaraswamy (Murugan); Vishnu and Lakshmi; Bramha and Saraswathi; Ashta Lakshmi; Krishna and his consorts; etc are displayed on Gollu.
Currently, we also add statues of our freedom fighters like Gandhiji, Nehruji, Subash Chandra bose etc and great Indian leaders like Abdul Kalam, Vivekananda, etc
Cathy: I also saw other items in the video, what are they?
Over the years various scenes (called sets) from the great Indian epics of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, Life of Krishna, as well as lessons from Vishnu’s Dasavatharam, Shiva and Brahma have been added.
There are also sets based on rural life such as farming sets, village market sets, village school sets and modern life like cricket set, urban park set, etc.
Last year I was also able to collect sets based on Panchathantara and Jataka Tales.
Cathy: Interesting! What do you do on these 9 days?
Dhamathi: Every day we offer poojas to the gods and goddesses also we give them the special neiveidhyam of the day. We also invite our dear ones, relatives, friends and neighbours.
Cathy: What do you people wear on this occasion?
Dhamathi: Girls wear Pattupavadai (silk lehenga), ladies wear silk sarees, and gents and boys wear silk dhoti during the poojas.
Cathy: Dhamathi what do you with you’re parents every year while your family is doing the process?
Dhamathi: That’s a very good question! I will tell you. I help them in arranging the dolls and decorating the hall where the dolls are displayed. Likewise, I also help my parents in packing the dolls with bubble wrap and placing them in the carton box for safekeeping until next year. I sing various devotional songs if I know it along with the guests that come to our house.
Cathy: What’s the best part of the GOLLU?
Dhamathi: I love that time when we finish with all the steps and place all the idols because at that moment the beauty of the epics shines.
Cathy: Thanks, I think I have some nice information to write a blog.
Dhamathi: Well, that’s an idea for me too. I shall write one too and I am eager to read your blog.
Bye. See you in the next blog.
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