A unique hobbyist – Doll decorator – Sumathi

Growing up in Bangalore, Dasara – Nadahabba, was one of the grandest festivals celebrated. For those around the Bangalore-Mysore region know too well about this 9 day celebrations. Every year during the dasara time, lakhs of visitors from across the globe arrive at Mysore to witness the majestic palace and elephant procession. While the highlight of the festival is still the majestic grandeur mysore palace and the grand elephant procession ,for natives of the land its the time to put up a display of dolls at home. These are the dolls that they have collected for years and the most important pair of doll displayed is the Pattad Gombe (Gombe is the Kannada word for doll). The pattad gombe dolls are dressed as king and queen. Its a skill in itself to dress these dolls. Traditionally these dolls are presented to a bride on her wedding day by her parents.

In this post I would like to introduce Mrs Sumati. She is a mum of 2 and is a dressmaker by profession. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and kids.

Sumathi has been decorating dolls independently since 2001. She acquired a taste for this art while in school. She used to watch her mom and her aunt work their magic and turn the wooden figures into mesmerising figurines. Every year she decorates about 12-15 orders pairs of dolls.

Types of doll decorations

Sumathi is an expert of 3 forms of decorations. The raja-rani (king-queen decoration), Mysore style decoration and Venkateshwara-padmavati alankara.

Raja-Rani decoration – this is a basic form of decoration where the dolls are dressed as king and queen. This is displayed in Dasara as tribute to the king and queen of Wodeyar dynasty.

Mysore style decoration – this is similar to Raja-rani decoration, but the king has a turban on head.

Venkateshwara-padmavati decoration – Families that worship Venkateshwara as kuladevata choose this form of decoration.

Where to buy Pattada Gombe

The pattada gombe dolls are hand carved by skilled craftsmen. They are available in handicrafts shops in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nādu. Traditionally these dolls were carved out of sandalwood but these days they use other forms of wood to make these dolls. But irrespective of the type of wood used, its always carved from a single wood block.

Sumathi says although these dolls are available in Bangalore, she prefers to buy them from Tirupati. Each pair costs about 600 INR.

Dressing up each doll takes about 5-6 hours. She uses silk like clothes, crystals and beads for decorating dolls. The dresses are hand sewed. A lot of attention goes into the making the right jewellery for the dolls. She pays extra attention to the fabric colour and texture. In the end, the result is a picture-perfect doll.

Sumathi also does other traditional forms of wedding decorations like Gowri designs, Bagina designs and wax models. She says these skills are becoming rarer these days. Interest in traditional forms of arts are on decline. She believes the local traditions need to be carried on and passed on to the next generation. She also teaches this art to others who come seeking knowledge.