Navarathri Season Started
An artisan giving finishing touches to a Navarathri Kolu doll, made of clay at his workshop in Sundakkamuthur Road, Coimbatore on Tuesday. Walking into S. Saravana Kumar’s work-cum-display shed, we were greeted by hundreds of cheerful dolls, all arranged neatly in rows. This is the season of dolls all over the State.With just a few weeks away for Navarathri, artisans like Mr. Saravana Kumar are neck deep in work. They supply the dolls to handicraft outlets such as Poompuhar and Sarvodaya here and also sell directly to customers who visit their premises on Sundakamuthur Road. “Fortunately, the sales have been good this year,” Mr. Saravana Kumar says.
His family members and he with workers (totalling about 15) have made dolls worth Rs. 6 lakh this year. The smaller dolls are made of clay and some of the larger ones are of papier-mâché. Though a majority of dolls are models of Gods and Goddesses, the Kolu tradition includes depiction of every form of life and Nature. Animals, trees, water, monuments, peasants, traders, and kings take the form of dolls. The Ashtalakshmi, Dasavatharam and ‘kalyana sets’ are still the hot favourites in the market.
“Every year we introduce something new. This time we have made Parthasarathy Perumal and Veeraraghava Perumal,” Mr. Kumar says. For making the dolls, work starts at 5 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. But, what makes the task less lucrative is problems such as difficulty in sourcing clay and shortage of labourers. This year, the workers are paid Rs. 300 each for a day’s work. “We get the clay from the Perur tank. But ever since the Perur tank was brought under the authority of the Public Works Department, sourcing clay has become a problem,” Mr. Kumar says. Papier-mâché is a more expensive option.
With such issues, the dolls are priced 10 to 20 per cent higher than last year, to meet the increasing production cost. Meanwhile, at the Poompuhar outlet here, dolls have arrived from Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Chennai and Kancheepuram too. Sales have been good for the last three years and “We hope to sell products worth Rs. 8 lakh this year as against Rs. 6 lakh last year,” says S. Govindarajan, its senior manager. The special attraction this year is the Kanakadara set and the Sangeetha Mumoorthigal. Apart from clay and papier-mache ones, little toys and dolls made of wood are also on display, he adds. The Kolu exhibition is on at Poompuhar up to October 7 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Poompuhar is also organising a handicraft exhibition, including Kolu dolls, at Jayams Hall for 12 days from September 24.
