INTRO

A Vibrant Celebration of Diversity and Spirituality

Our Golu setup is a mesmerizing representation of India's rich cultural heritage, showcasing an exquisite blend of mythology, tradition, and modernity. Spanning across various themes, our display stands out for its:


- Divine Diversity: Exquisite representations of Dasavatharam (Lord Vishnu's ten avatars), Navagraha (nine celestial bodies), Asta Lakshmi (eight forms of Goddess Lakshmi), and Kailasa Shiv family, highlighting Hindu mythology's depth and complexity.


- Epics and Legends: Breathtaking tableaux of Ramar (Ramayana), Krishna (Krishna Leela), Gatotkacha (Mahabharata), Kumbakarna (Ramayana), and Bheesmar (Mahabharata), bringing ancient stories to life with intricate details.


- Festive Splendor: Vibrant depictions of all 12 Tamil months' celebrations - Chittirai, Vaigasi, Aadi, Purattasi, Aipasi, Karthikai, Margazhi, Thai, Masi, Panguni, and so on - showcasing regional traditions, festivals, and customs. Our essential festivals of Hinduism like vinayagar chaturthi, shivratri, diwali, Pongal shown capturing the essence of religional traditions


- Cultural Fusion: Side-by-side displays of Indian and Western wedding ceremonies, promoting unity, diversity, and cross-cultural understanding.


- Nature's Harmony: Realistic zoo, Jurassic park, bird sanctuary, and snake sanctuary settings, emphasizing coexistence, conservation, and wonder.


- Everyday Life: Intricately crafted school, court, temple, village, park, farming, and cricket ground sets, reflecting society's fabric, occupations, and leisure activities.


- Spiritual Journey: A comprehensive portrayal of Lord Krishna's life stages, from childhood to old age, alongside Buddha, Madura, and other revered figures, illustrating spiritual growth and enlightenment.


"Our Golu is a testament to the beauty of unity, celebrating India's diverse cultural tapestry, universal values of spirituality, harmony, and tradition, and the vibrant spirit of our community."

We are unable to cover our golu in 3 pics sharing Google drive link

This year the theme of our golu is all festivals celebrated by Tamil Brahmins. We have taken 16 festivals starting with Varsha pirappu to Kardaya nombu. We has displayed the god,food,pooja items,location etc in the display. Most of the display are handmade. All the dolls dresses are hand decorated. The fruits, food(prasadam) are made by soft clay. Cardboard,hard clay & household item are displayed. Also we have explained the different parts of Kuthu villaku and represented the god symbol in each part. This is also hand made. All rangoli/kolam design are handmade.

We have set up a small, cozy Golu with three steps with traditional golu bommais. On one side we have different themes like a park, a temple, and a cityscape construction. There’s a traditional Chettiyar set, symbolizing the merchants of the olden days,while on the other side, we've arranged three sets with a connected concept.

The first set beautifully depicts the divine wedding of Lord Sundareshwarar and Goddess Meenakshi (Thirukalyanam). This is followed by the birth of Lord Murugan (Aarumugam), celebrating the momentous occasion. Finally, we have a Murugan Pazhani Kavadi set, showcasing the spiritual journey and devotion of his followers

The Golu symbolises that Divinity will be a presence in the house during Navarathri,
Our Golu started from 2007 till now with great enthusiasm and strength given by lord Durga Lakshmi Saraswati
Always we wish all in the world with good health wealth
We can't plan anything it all lord's wish
Om Shakthi 🕉

This time our Navaratri Golu has 3 concepts
1. Sequence Concept: Gods, Goddesses & Guru are arranged in a sequential order of sets from 10 to 1 and depicts Krishna leela ,Guru parampara also
2. Navaratri Concept: Based on NavaDurga
3. Atma Darshan Concept: Dolls depicting inner meaning /concepts based on our Sanathana dharma scriptures/texts Dashopanishad-10 prime Upanishads. Also dolls from Ananda Mimamsa, Markandeya Purana & Abhang are kept

Golu has been part of our life from my childhood we kee golu at our house
After marriage, that continued this year we have separate padi krishna birth to krisha in dwarka n mahabharatha..

Our Golu, in Bahrain, is very unique with more than 24 creative concepts and themes! Depicting the "Ultimate Mother's Love", the "Unconditional Father's Love" and spreading the "Divine Love", what renders the Golu very unique is the fact that TECHNOLOGY MEETS TRADITION to draw our children back into the rich Indian values, culture and traditions. Whether it be the Damodar Krishna moving between the two Trees cracking them down, Vasudeva crossing the Turbulent Yamuna, The Chakrataazhwar turning around to reveal the Narasimha, the Seven-feet River really flowing through the Golu ... state of the art technology (fully home-made!!) is used to bring these divine miracles happen right before our very eyes!! Please watch the video for full description and to enjoy the Golu as it happens live! Happy to share our Golu, which more than 200 people watched live in Bahrain!

Come... let us spread the divine love this Navratri!

Golu 2024 – Uma Jayashankar
We at Jayashankars house keep traditional Golu for about 20 plus years. We always include a theme with our Golu conveying messages from our ithigasa and puranas to our visitors. This year our Golu theme is குழந்தை(யும்) தெய்வ(மு)ம். As the phrase goes குழந்தை தெய்வம், we have highlighted how God born in the form of குழந்தை and always remembered as குழந்தை தெய்வம் help Devas and destroy evil forces. We have selected Vamana and Krishna avatara scenes for this.
குழந்தையும் தெய்வமும் - as the phrase goes how God appeared and help four divine children when they show bhakthi from their childhood. We have selected Dhurva, Prahalada, Thiru Gyana samabar and Markandeyar and depicted short episodes from their life.
In addition to this we have kept scenes from Ramayana from Sita Kalyanam till Sita Rama Pattabhishekam, Mysore city as model, village life and lot of handwork from my wife and son. Except dolls most of the things you see are handmade by us.

I am happy to share my golu for the contest.

I see many have displayed chandrayan 3, world cup and many other creative themes here.

India won the world cup! India launched Rocket to the Moon! India's chandrayan 3 landed safely.

The rocket and world cup may be from this world. But neither India nor the moon was man-made. It belongs to all and was created by someone or somebody whom we describe as the Eternity - GOD.

This year, our main Kolu consists of all Gods. Since we're residing at Nanganallur near the Narasimhar temple, we start with Laksmi Narasimhar, old Lakshmi doll which is 100 years old and has seen 4 generations, Thiruvallur Veeraraghavar (our Kula deivam), Tirupati Srinivasar (my mamiyar's maternal house and my paternal house Kula deivam), Kumbakonam Oppiliappan (My maternal side Kuladeivam as well as I was named Bhooma, after the nachiyar of this temple during my puberty), etc.

It is said that the Lakshmi Narasimhar and Hayagreevar on the top step was bought by husband during his college days for just Rs. 500/- each from the Kanchipuram Bommakara Street, which is famous in making golu dolls. It is around 20 inches and now, it may cost around Rs. 4500/- each. There is another story behind the Andal on the top step of the Golu. My husband bought it a year before our marriage and my mother in law used to say that, because of that lucky Andal, he got married to me. 😯 To be honest, that Andal has blessed me with such a lovely mother in law.

We also have kept Kal Garudan Vanjullavalli thayar, who is my namesake during my wedding Jadhagaranam, Namakaranam. I have been named as Vanjulavalli during my wedding. The Golu also consist of Namakkal Narasimhar and Namagiri thayar, Sholinghur Narasimhar, Badrachalam Ramar, Ayodhya Ram Lalla, Chakkarathaazhvaar, Chellappillai, Ramar Parivaram, Dasavatharam, Narasimhar avatharam and Hiranya Vadham, Garuda sevai, etc.

I have to specifically mention the entire Garuda sevai set which was bought by my hubby's grand mother when he was in UKG. So, the set is now only 33 years old. Just 2 years elder than me. Haha.. 😅🤣 the feel when a girl comes to know that she is younger than someone or something... 👌👍🤸‍♀️ No wonder we dress up much.. 👸👸

And, any guess how much it costed?💰💰 Well, it consists of 15 to 20 clay dolls of 3 inches each, 1 Elephant, 1 Horse and a Big Garuda Sevai Doll. So, now guess.. How much could it have been costed before 33 years?

500? Wrong...😔
350? Wrong...🤨
400? Wrong...😡
It was just 250/-.😯

Can we get atleast one small doll for 250 these days? I think yes. A tiny one, maybe.

And... the major part comes here. My husband was born and bought up in Kanchipuram. So, he loves Varadharaja perumal a lot.
So, we got this 11 dolls Brahmotsavam of Kanchipuram set. You should've seen how much my husband was willing to pay for it and how I bargained and reduced the price from 18k to 11k. The look on his face when I bargained... Priceless 🤣😅

This year's new inclusion is the Nachiyar thirukkolam or the Mohini Avatharam of 9 temples. In the Sri Vaishnava temples, during the annual brammotsavam which is celebrated for 10 days, the 5th day is dedicated for Nachiyar thirukkolam. The urchava vigraham of the perumal (Sri Vishnu) is dressed up like the Nachiyar or Mohini (Sri Mahalakshmi or the Thayar of that temple) using the jewels, kili (parrot), sarees of the consort deity of that particular temple. It is famous in all the Sri Vaishnava sthalams and the south Tamil Nadu has a culture of using veena instrument instead of kili (parot) or lotus.

So, owing to Sri Vaishnava Samprathayam and Guru Parampara Prabhavam, we have kept the secondary golu consisting of the Brammotsavam in the first step, Nachiyar thirukkolam in the second step and Azhwaars, Ramanujar, Srimad Vedantha Desikar and our guru of Srirangam Srimad Poundarikapuram Andavan Asramam Sri Gopaladesika Mahadesikan swami performing Mangalasasanam (worshiping and singing hymes on the gods) in the third step.

After the Athi Varadar Vaibhavam at 2019, my husband made a 2 Feet Athi Varadar carved out of the real Athi Maram (Fig Tree). The facial features were real look alike. Just as the event happened in Kanchipuram with 2 Kolams, Sayana Thirukkolam and Nindra Thirukkolam, we, in our house, also have this Athi Varadar in Sayana Thirukkolam during the first 4 days of the Kolu and Nindra Thirukkolam during the 5th to 8th day of the Kolu. During the last day, resembling the historical meet of Athi Varadar and the utsavar Varadaraja Perumal of Kanchipuram, we, in our house create a similar scene.

We have a kutty panchaloka vigraham of Varadaraja Perumal Utsavar. Similar to the navarathri utsavam in Kanchipuram, the vigraham is kept in a Oonjal (swing) and a different alankaram is done every day for them (Kalinga narthanam, sikku thadai, thopparam, paandiyan kondai, etc.) Also, on the last day of the Navarathri (the day before the Saraswathi Pooja or Vijayadasami) we recreate the most iconic Serthi Event and Piriyavidai of Athi Varadar and Varadaraja Perumal Utsavar as it happened in 2019. And on the Saraswathi Pooja or Vijayadasami, the god idols are donned with White dresses, using white flower and white jewels which is famously called as Vellai Sathupadi (white alankaram) in the Kanchipuram.

We also mix and match (not bought as set) the Sri Krishna Leela depicting the life of Lord Sri Krishna. We're proud that we have the most beautiful Boothagi, the demon who dressed up as a beautiful lady to breast feed Lord Sri Krishna and died in his hands.

That concludes about the dolls. But Golu is not just about the dolls right? There is much more. Starting from the arrangements, decorations, bargaining and buying new dolls, considering various visiters selecting return gifts for the accordingly, giving thamboolam to sumangalis, sundal, puttu, finally poojai, packing all the dolls backs and till settling them in their usual loft, ooooff... 😓🤧🤷‍♀️

Adding all the additional stuffs would make this write up, which has already become an essay to build up like a novel. Like Ponniyin Selvan 5 parts novel, 2 parts movie, if someone wants to write about Golu novel, then mine would be the first to get published and it would come around 8 Volumes... Volume Voluma kadhai sollalam.

Happy Navaratri to all😊🙏
This is Smt. Mythili Attavar from Delhi. I have been keeping Golu for the past twenty years. This year my theme is Indian Hindu Traditional Marriage. Due to constraint of space, I have made the arrangement in 5 steps, inside the kitchen, in a small Pooja room.