INTRO

My mother-in-law has the practice of keeping Golu at home (Salem, TN) every year for 9 days. This is my first year of keeping Golu after marriage.

We have a traditional 9 step golu at our home. In the First step we have kuthu vilaku and vinayagar doll made of mud, with Paavai vilaku on both the corners of the step and a unique Graha lakshmi doll kept facing the Golu.

Second step we have Dasavatharam set, 60th wedding set, mama maami decorative doll and chettiyar kadai set with elephants on both the corners of step.

Third step we have some unique dolls like Krishnar sitting on Vinayagar's lap, Krishna on unjal and Mama, maami clay doll along with lakshmi and saraswathi.

Fourth step we have Ram, Sita and laxmanan, thanjavur 360 degree balancing doll, and famous kanchipuram ammans - vadivudai, kodivudai, thiruvudai.

Fifth step we have kept Kalasam along with ashta lakshmi and Krishnar's Vishwaroopa dharisanam for Arjunan.

Sixth step we have Perumal-Thaayaar, Annamalaiyar-Unnamalai amman and traditionally decorated Marapaachi bommai.

Seventh step we have a very unique new doll - Aandal having perumal in her lap which we brought from kanchipuram kept along with Pillayar, Lakshmi and Saraswati.

Eighth step we have very unique God dolls like Thiruvananthapuram Anantha padmanama swamy, Melkottai perumal with vaira mudi sevai and Tirupathi varaha swamy.

Lastly on the Nineth step we have Hayagrivar, Annapoorani and Vinayagar.

Our Thematic Golu:

1. Kayilayam: We have made a kayilayam setup for Shivan family. Kayilayam setup has Shivan, Parvathi, Vinayagar and Murugar along with shivan's daughter Balambigai sitting between shivan & parvathi which makes the entire setup unique. Also we have the Kamadhenu doll below the shivan family.

2. Krishna Vanam: We have made a small garden setup using artificial grass and handmade cardboard tree to give a natural look of vanam. God Krishna standing under a tree with cow behind him and elephants gaurding the vanam overall provides an aesthetic look for our golu.

3. Shivan Kulam: We have made a small kulam setup for God shivan. We have made the kulam from scratch using white cement and painted it using acrylic colours to give it a real natural kulam look. Flowers are added to the water to give a aesthetic feeling.

4. Varalakshmi Poojai Setup: We have made the very popular and traditional varalakshmi poojai setup, where we have two kuthu vilaku one decorated as a man and another as a woman along with kalasam and thamboolam.

5. Malaikottai Pillayar: We have made a malai and vanam setup with vinayagar placed on the malaikottai surrounded by water(hand painted) and also we have kept figurines of animals to give it a vanam look.

This is my first time participation in Saptavarna Golu contest. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Hope you like our Golu.

Happy Navaratri.