Dasara

Oct 16 to Oct 24 was the Dasara festival this year.

I had been thinking of celebrating Dasara by keeping Dasara dolls for the last few years, but never got myself to do it. This year, I finally decided that I would start, keep whatever I had, and then build my collection every year.

The festival is celebrated for 10 days in October and is called - Dasara, Dussehra, Navaratri, Gombe habba (kannada), Golu (Tamil). 'Saraswathi pooje' is celebrated on the 6th day where we worship books (Saraswathi is the Goddess of education);  'Durgashtami' - worship of Goddess Durga (Goddess of power/shakthi) is celebrated on the 8th day;  'Ayudha pooja' or 'Mahanavami' where we worship vehicles, mechanical and electrical appliances is celebrated on the 9th day; Vijayadashami - the day of victory of good over evil is celebrated on the 10th day.

Vijayadashami is the day Rama returned to his kingdom, Ayodhya, from the forest (Vanavasa) after killing the ten headed daemon Ravana. It is also the day Chamundeshwari killed Mahishasura.

So Dasara is celebrated for all the above reasons. The significance of celebrating this festival is to imply that good wins over evil all the time.

In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Dasara is celebrated by keeping dolls in 9 steps, and worshipping Gods and Goddesses. In the north, Dasara is celebrated as 'Ramleela', where they burn the effigy of Ravana on the 10th day. In eastern India, people worship Kali during the 10 days. All over India, people worship the Goddess in different forms - Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Durga, Kali, Chamundeshwari, Parvathi etc.

In our community, during a wedding the couple gets 2 wooden dolls called "Pattada Gombe" - God Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, which is given by the bride's parents to the bride. During my wedding, my mom's friend got the 'Pattada Gombe' from Tirupathi. These 2 dolls are the main God worshipped by us during Dasara.

The 9 steps of dolls kept for this festival signify the evolution process :

Top most step - God Goddess - Vishnu, Lakshmi

Kalasha

Sadhus, saints, Gurus

Human beings

Animals

Birds

Insects, ants

Sea shells, sea animals, tortoise

Bottom most - Trees, plants

I had collected a few dolls over the last few years. Preparations began on the Saturday  before Dasara, where we moved all the dolls to my fil's room where we had decided to keep the Dasara dolls.

A gave me the idea of setting up 3 steps. My office desk and an old table in the garage were of the same height, so that formed the first step. A glass center table became the second step, and a small 3 piece wooden structure that A had made many years ago was our third step.

The top most step had "Pattada Gombe" in the centre at a slight elevation. I got a temple tower (gopura) and made it look like a temple, with Basava in the front, and a man selling fruits sitting in the front. Since Dasara is mainly about Rama and Devi, I kept a wooden Rama, Laxmana, Seetha and Hanuman idol. I also kept Chamundeshwari on the top step. The first step had God related idols on the left and central portion and 4 elephants forming the Mysore Dasara procession on the right side. 

Pattada Gombe with Kalasha in front

Mysore Dasara Procession

I have a habit of picking up something unique from every place we visit so that it reminds me of that place. So I had a huge collection of small curios. I placed a big globe that I had bought in the US in the centre of the 2nd step, and kept all these curios around the globe. 

2nd Step

The last step was the 'musicians corner' :) 

Apart from the 3 steps, I had made a park using fake grass and real ragi. 

Day 1

My favorite of the lot was the Geethopadesha (Bhagwad Geeta) that my grand father had made from thermocol for me around 6 years ago. 

We had a big 'Santa Maria' ship model that we had picked up from Mauritius. 

Along with all the above, we had few gifts given to us by our family and friends. 

So overall, the whole room looked great, with lighting effect suggested by my fil :)

Everyday I used to do pooja in the morning and had invited my family and friends.

One of my friends made tamboola bags for me to give 'bombe bageena' to people as I did not want to use plastic covers. The bags are perfect and can be re-used for many things. They are very sturdy and look good as well. Thanks Joe :)

Loved each and everyday of Dasara :) I had so much fun and was super excited each day to do pooja and have people over at home.