Often they told us our forefathers could perform miracles. They lived all very close to nature and sometimes with nothing to spend. All they cared about was trees, lands, water, taxes, animals and produce. So of course their well-being depended on the well-being of all these factors. They were advanced in their own way with their own resources. Obviously to draw comparison between then and now would be foolishly mundane. To draw parallels, the factors responsible, outcome and the control environment should be the same which has differed greatly between past and us. Anyway cutting long story short, these thought waltzed in my mind when I came across probably the most under-rated exhibit of all times. It was in a museum in Mumbai which provoked my understanding of alternate living. Fancy as it may sound to the socialites, it can get impractical at times in an age where we dedicate so little time to ourselves. The exhibit showed a wonderful collection of alternate medicine, rituals associated with health and wellness of historical India.
One thing in specific caught my attention and left me spellbound. The exhibit displayed a doll, commonly known in Andhra as Marapachi Dolls or Marapachi Bomma. This doll displayed in three pieces was collected from a local person but the practice of its origin brought me back to Andhra. Very commonly these dolls of wood are seen on the Vijayadasami day or during the festival of Navaratri decorated and in some traditional cases passed on from generation to generation during marriages. The dolls are made in pairs and considered to be Lord Venkateshwara and his consort and are beautifully decorated. You would now find one of these in shops around Tirupati. Majorly this doll making may have started in Tirupati or rose to major popularity in Tirupati. Whichever case it may be one thing is clear that it is closely rooted to Tirupati.
But, the question is, is that all that is to it? Is that really all? Nope. This age old tradition has a meaning. And I am honestly glad it did. So, the dolls I saw in Mumbai were of the colour red, in different shapes and their heads were flat. They stood on a small oval platform. Since these dolls were recovered, the hands of one of them were broken and well honestly, they didn’t look in very good shape. The reason for the flat head was that they were rubbed on a stone or a flat wooden disk. Just like sandal. The red colour came to it from the wood, the red sandalwood of which they were made. So you hold the doll from the feet and rub the head on the wooden plate. The red sandal paste which then comes out is used to be applied to injuries, wounds and marks. How it exactly works is unknown but it gets the job done. The injury is healed.
Carving the red sandal in form of a doll will make it an attractive storage and the doll will last for a very long time. It was of such great medicinal importance that it was handed down to generations and specially to the girl during the marriage. Later, other sentiments got attached to this which is all together a different story. These red sandal dolls traveled from Andhra, Tamil Nadu to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa.
If you look closely you can find these dolls in Tirupati. Are they made of red sandal? Well, no, hardly anyone makes them. Even if it’s made, it’s only for festivals. All of them are Marapachi Bommas but not all of them are Rakta Bommas!
Image Courtesy: Tabiyat Exhibition and CSVMS, Mumbai
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