These Dasara dolls bring alive scene from the Ramayana

Festive joy was in the air at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, where a Dasara exhibition was inaugurated on Saturday.

A scene from Ramayana where Dasharatha and his family are performing the Putrakameshti Yagna in Ramayana was recreated with three-feet-high dolls.

Speaking to DH at the inauguration of the exhibition, the exhibitor, Anu Visweshwar said the dolls were at least 200 years old. “These were passed on to me as a tradition.

It has been in use for several generations now,” she said, pointing at the set of dolls, which were handed down to her by her mother-in-law. Every Dasara, Anu displays a set of dolls at home and they are exhibited elsewhere on request.

King Dasharatha, along with Kausalya, sitting at the Putrakameshti Yagna as the other queens Kaikeyi and Sumithra look on, is depicted.

Explaining the sequence, Anu said that when the king and queen did not have children, the family offered prayers following which they were blessed with sons.

Each of these dolls, made with wood, were decorated elaborately and clad in colourful attire. “We spent quite a bit on the clothes itself,” Anu added.

The exhibition was inaugurated by actress B Saroja Devi. It took Anu and her assistant Eshwar 15 days to put the show together. Before this, the dolls were exhibited at Chitrakala Parishat, Iskcon and also in the USA.
DH News Service