Exhibition of clay dolls begins

KOCHI: As a precursor for the upcoming Navarathri festival, the women’s wing of the Kerala Brahmana Sabha, Ernakulam unit, is organising an exhibition-cum-sale of clay dolls meant for the ‘Bommai Kolu’, at the Gramajana Samooham Hall on the Ernakulathappan temple premises in Kochi. The exhibition, which began on Monday, showcases clay dolls of various deities meant for the traditional ‘Bommai Kolu’ display which accompanies Navarathri celebrations at Brahmin houses. Apart from the traditional clay dolls of deities, other clay and Plaster-of-Paris sculptures and decorative figurines are also available. The dolls are brought from Bunrotti, Velacheri and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Terracotta figurines and wall hangings from Calcutta are displayed too. The prices of the figurines range from Rs. 50 to Rs. 1,500.“Every year, we bring in a novel concept apart from the traditional dolls. Ernakulathappan and Poornathrayeeshan were the novel themes in previous years. This year, it is the clay figurine of Chottanikkara Devi,” said P K Ramachandran, joint secretary of the Brahmana Sabha, Ernakulam Unit. According to the organisers, this year’s exhibition contains over 270 varieties of clay dolls and figurines worth a total of around Rs. 3 lakh. The exhibition is open from 3 pm to 8 pm for a fortnight.For the ‘Kolu’, dolls are arranged in odd number of rows and pooja is performed in front of the display every evening. Although there are different beliefs associated with the ‘Bommai Kolu’, the practical aspect of the tradition used to be the reuse of clay obtained from desilting of irrigation canals which gets blocked after the rains.