No magic this! Priest turns his house into Bombe Mane

Mysuru: It is that time of the year when households in old  Mysuru display their collection of dolls, otherwise left neatly packed in their attics. 

But the biggest draws are the month -long mega doll festivals that are held as part of the Dasara extravaganza in the city. While a social worker from Andhra Pradesh, Ravi Kalayan Chakravarthi, has a lakh dolls on display at the Jaganmohan Palace, Mysuru Palace priest, Srihari Dixit has converted his entire bungalow into a dolls’ house. There is also the Bombe Mane at the Ramsons Kala Prathishtaana 

With this year being the birth centenary  of the  25th scion of the Mysuru royal family, Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, his life, contributions, his jumbo savari  in 1969  that saw him  seated in the golden howdah and his darbar are the focus of all three doll shows.

The Gombe Mane of palace priest, Dixit  has over 3500 dolls , including a few that are over a 150- years- old, on display. This year the Kodagu floods and landslides are among the many themes of the display, conveying  a strong message in support of environment conservation. 

The Bombe Mane  at Ramsons Art Prathishtana, created by Mr R J Singh,  has over 6000 dolls , ranging from one inch in size to four feet tall, on display. There are  dolls made of clay, paper mache, wood,  ceramic, brass, plaster of paris, cloth and gypsum.  The 400 artistes, who have fashioned them, hail from the 12 states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, West Bengal, Uttarpradesh, Rajastan, Orissa, Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana and Punjab. The paintings of Raja Ravi Varma too have come alive in the dolls.