Tradition

Pics: Chitra Iyer. Holy celebrations with friends.Little holi players.Colors and joy.Colour attack.Smears and splashes.Holika‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');});⊕

The smell of sulphur wafting through the air, the night-sky filled with beautiful firework displays, constant sounds of bombs being blown – crackers are an integral part of the hindu festival Diwali, or Deepavali as it is termed in  some parts of south India. The Late A Chelladurai, General Director of the Sivakasi-headquartered Standard Fireworks Ltd., once wrote, “At no time was there or is there a product that has contributed more to relaxation, merriment and enjoyment - both for young and old alike. Let us enjoy fireworks!”  But unlike a decade ago, when this was a sight only during…

Dasara or Navarathri is celebrated by different communities in different ways. In Bangalore, many families celebrate Gombe Habba (festival of dolls) by arranging dolls, new and old. This is also called bombe koorisodu, bombe kolus, bommala kolu, and the dolls are usually made of clay or wood, and nowadays with Plaster of Paris (PoP). The tradition has passed on from generation to generation, and is accompanied by a variety of customs, pujas, story-telling and food. Tableaux depicting a scene from Ramayana, created by Soumya Srikanth. Pic: Deepti Sarma. Patronised by the Mysore maharajas, and with a large number of doll…

The Kadlekai Parishe (groundnut festival) is a cultural tradition of Bangalore that has survived for over four centuries. One of the city's oldest cultural events, it takes place on the last Monday of the Karthikaa month at the Bull Temple Road in Basavangudi  . This year there were a lot more people than the last year, by eye witness accounts. Amoghavarsha visited the festival and snapped up these moments. Groundnut stalls, heaps of groundnuts, that bring flavor and name to the fair! This is the cool future teller! Different shapes and sizes of robot dolls with some pre-recorded future messages…

Navarathri triggers colourful and vibrant memories of one's childhood. Visit Anupama's Navarathri setting at Banashankari II Stage, and you can be sure of being stunned. Elaborate arrangements of dolls, depicting particular stories from the epics are a treat for the eyes. This year the themes are 14th day of the Mahabharata war, Rama and Lakshmana protecting Vishwamitra's 'yagna', Krishnaleela, scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Each scene is meticulously laid out and care is taken to get every small detail right. Dolls are of varying sizes, from Snow White to Gograhana, you can find dolls across cultures, epics and history.…

Ganesh Chaturthi falls on the fourth day of the waxing phase of the moon (shukla paksha) of the Bhadrapada month....’bhadrapada maasena chaturthyam/brahamanaadi poojitam’, as the great Carnatic music composer Muthuswami Dikshitar sings. In Bangalore, preparations for the puja start quite early.Here is the Lord in different shapes and sizes, all packaged and ready to be picked up by the devout and religious. (All pictures by the author.) Packed Ganeshas at RV Road.Posters in various localities announce the forthcoming puja and the puja karta (one who is conducting it) too. Ganesha pooja poster at Malleswaram.I met Shakuntala Jain, an artist who…

An unremarkable, crumbling old house in a calm corner of Basavangudi is the venue for unusual artistic performances. Every Sunday evening, the spooky house opens for an hour long performance of Rasaloka, a novel classical theatre in miniature art form. Ganga River descending from Sky (pic: Monideepa Sahu) Artist Deepika Dorai of Bimba the Art Hut has recreated with her own hands a miniature rendering of a cosmic moment frozen in time. Since the past three years, she has added the storytelling element in a formalized theatre like setting to bring the special moment to life. "I want to share…

Karaga is one of the oldest festivals in Karnataka and is also celebrated in Tamilnadu. In Bangalore, the Dharmarayaswamy Temple in Thigalarpet (central Bangalore, between the City Market area and Richmond Town) has been the focal point of this festival. Karaga ran its course in the third week of April this year. These pictures were taken on the night of 20 April, a full moon. A huge crowd in front of the Dharmarayaswamy temple, this is the only entrance path used by the Veerakumaras and other followers. There were people as far as the eyes could see. People were on…

Preparations for the Dassera festival start at least 3 months in advance at ‘Mani’, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore. It would perhaps be more appropriate to say that preparations for the next year’s Dassera festival start even as the current year’s concludes. As Usha Madhuranathan, now 71, the prime mover behind Dassera arrangements at ‘Mani’, says, “It is as if our lives follow a calendar that starts with Dassera each year, not Ugadi or New Year.”   Churning of the ocean: Tableau for Dussehra (pic: Meera) Passionate about arranging dolls, Usha has, in the past few years, taken on a personal…