Dasara Gombe Habba- 2019

Dasara gombe habba  is a tradition practised during Dasara(Navaratri) in some parts of South India and South Maharashtra.  There is a story of Goddess Durga, around the celebration of   Gombe habba. When Godess Durga was ready to kill Mashisasura, (the demon), all the gods and goddesses gave their all powers to Goddess Durga.  So they became like dolls. History says , Dasara gombe habba started during Vijayanagara dynasty. My opinion is, this was the way to show the creativity of women in the house, as there were very less opportunities for women to exhibit their creativity to others.Whatever, this Gombe habba always fascinates me. 🙂

I have written many posts regarding Gombe habba.  I was also one of the judges to judge Gombe Habba 2016 competition conducted by a  famous Kannada news paper team. During that time I had visited many houses and seen variety of dolls and creativity of people in exhibiting them.  After that event, few days,   if I close my eyes also I could see only dolls 🙂

Dasara Gombe habba 2019

Every year , eagerly I wait for an  invitation for Gombe habba.  This year , I was invited by my friends  Bhargavi and Ravi. When I entered their house, the living room was full of colorful dolls, arranged neatly.

The dolls arranges on steps

I started giving work to my camera, and also Bhargavi explained me the theme of the dolls arrangement. She had arranged the dolls, to narrate the nine forms of devotional service offered to Lord Vishnu. The services are as follows:

SRAVANAM(hearing the glories of Lord Vishnu) KEERTHANAM VISHNO(chanting his names), SMARANAM(Thinking of his nature) PAADA SEVANAM( Serving as is devotee), ARCHANAM(Worshiping the lord) VANDANAM(Prostrating at the Lord’s feet) DAASYAM(as a servant)SAKHYAM(Treating him as a friend) AATHMANIVEDANAM(Completely surrendering to the Lord).  She had used the stories of Ramayana and stories of Krishna to exhibit the themes.

Here are the arrangements:

Stories of Rama to narrate the theme

Stories of Krishna used for the narration of the theme

Here are few photos to show each theme,

SRAVANAM(hearing the glories of Lord Vishnu-) KEERTHANAM VISHNO(chanting his names), SMARANAM(Thinking of his nature)

Smaranam( Remembering the Lord)

Sakhyam( Treating the Lord as a friend)

Aatma nivedanam (Surrendering to the Lord)

Few dolls were arranged on the steps to show the stories of Krishna .

Dolls narrating the stories of Lord Krishna

You can see Dashavatara dolls, on the top most step. Bhargavi told me that, these dolls were nearly hundred years old. It shows the efforts of our elders to preserve the dolls.

Dashavatara dolls, which are nearly hundred years old

The arrangement included not only mythological dolls , also the dolls representing  the history too. Here are the dolls of world famous Mysore ambari , Mysore king and queen.

Dolls of world famous Mysore Ambari

By this time, I was lost in mythological world, roaming in Ayodhya, Lanka, Brindavan , Dwaraka etc 🙂 and then to Mysore to see the Ambari procession. I hope you have also reached there seeing these dolls. Now lets visit  Europe, in this world of dolls.

Here is the mini Europe created by Bhargavi. You can see most of the famous monuments in Europe, but in miniature form 🙂

Miniatures of monuments of Europe.

How can we neglect our own Desi village vendor . Here is the couple selling the groceries in their shop:

Shop in a village and you can see the toy shop too.

In the front row, the utensils are arranged. If keenly observed, you can see that shows the evolution of utensils.

Dolls to show the evolution of utensils

The below one shows the different kinds of boats

Types of boats

Some more dolls to attract kids were Barbie dolls and dolls of some cartoon characters:

Barbie dolls and its accessories

Dolls of cartoon characters like Spiderman, Groot, Hulk , Chota Bheem etc. I could relate this to the meme which was viral during Dasara. I felt these have come to get blessings of Goddess Durga to become more powerful 🙂

Cartoon characters

Everywhere I could see Bhargavi’s  creativity, patience, enthusiasm and devotion. I always hear from the women who arrange dolls for Dasara, it is really tedious task to take out the preserved dolls collection and keeping it back. Also setting up the dolls according to the themes ,requires lot of time. This is not only rich heritage, I say it is a cute heritage. Thanks to the people who make the efforts to preserve the rich and cute heritage  and introducing it to the next generation.

Whatever is our age, every person is a kid inside. This Gombe habba is an occasion for me to satisfy the fascination towards miniatures.

Looking at these dolls many times I feel or remember the fact that, we are also dolls in the hands of almighty.

Hope this culture and heritage continue for years to come.

Happy Dasara to all my readers and May Goddess Durga fulfill all your wishes.

Love, Laugh and Live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana.