BENGALURU: The pandemic may have dimmed Dasara festivities but has done little to rob the sheen off
Pattada Gombe (main pair) at doll displays, which adorns households across the old Mysuru region during the festival.
Traditionally, Pattada Gombe, which comes in pairs and is revered as the king and queen, is at the centre of all doll arrangements in south Karnataka. This Dasara is no exception. Made of red sandalwood, rosewood or teakwood and passed down generations, the pairs dressed in kurtas and saris have retained their prime position, irrespective of themed displays that are slowly gaining prominence.
“Our Pattada Gombes are over 200 years old now. My grandmother was gifted the dolls as part of tradition. But thanks to the quality of wood used, they are still intact,” said MSS Jois, a retired private company employee. His wife was gifted a Pattada
Gombe set by her natal home during marriage and has maintained it since then. “I belong to a family of priests who worked in Mysuru Palace. I chose to work in the private sector,” he added.
Jayashree Srinivasan, a resident of Basaveshwaranagar, has been celebrating the festival for decades now. Her 80-year-old red-sandalwood Pattada Gombe was passed on to her from her grandmother. “My grandmother gave her Pattada Gombe to my mother, which later came to me,” Srinivasan said.
The decorations in 1980s were largely restricted to paper and leaves as cloth was not easily accessible, but things have changed now with silk, muslin and georgette being used for decorative purposes.
“When the Pattada Gombe was given to me, it used to have paper wrappings. I have now draped it in silk cloth,” said Srinivasan, who has nearly nine pairs of Pattada Gombes. While two of them were recently bought, she has got the rest from her ancestors.
Sreevalli Santhosh, a resident of Kengeri, said: “On the first day of Navratri, we put up the Gombe. The dolls are worshipped for nine days. On the ninth day, we make the dolls sleep and later take them down.” Sreevalli’s mother Shalini Nagesh said: “My mother gifted me the Pattada Gombe, which I handed over to my daughter. Today, the tradition is almost forgotten, but my family has been following the practice religiously.”