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[Guest guest]

Esteemed members of this group:

I have been wondering about the origins of the "Kolu" during navaratri.

This seems unique to people from Tamilnadu, parts of Andhra and Karnataka,

though in Andhra there is also a tradition of displaying dolls during the

time of makara sankaranti for three days. Some elders in India told me that

originally only the murtis of the Lord, Lakshmi and others were kept and

somehow the secular dolls came in later. Does anyone know the origin of the

"kolu" as we know it? Maybe there is information in personal

recollections-- for instance there are stories of some porcelain dolls being

given during my great grandmother's first navaratri after marriage-- so that

pushes it back some years! More and more "social" themes seem to be

represented in India-- in the fifties I vaguely recall seeing scened from

Indian independance movement. Do you know of other secular themes that were

so represented? Since this has been an important tradition in our family, I

was curious about the history, and have been unable to get textual answers.

I have a lot of information on the story of Mahishasuramardini, the puranas

where they come, Yudhistira's veneration of Durga in the Mahabharata (Virata

Parvan, I believe), but I'm simply searching for information just on our

Tamil kolu. Any information is welcome! Thanking you, Vasudha Narayanan

PS The reason I requested even personal recollections is because it gives so

much pleasure just to hear about it. For instance, this summer, when the

bhakti group was on "hold," I had asked Sri Sadagopan about patinettam

perukku and he gave me such a lovely answer about how the ladies in his

family would take "kalanda sadam" to Mother Kaveri "who was rushing to her

Lord's house" and celebrate the day. Reading that note, I kept imagining

the scene so many times, along with the memories I had of the celebrations

of the day. Thank you.