Decoding the mystique of marapachi couple dolls

As Navaratri concludes, we observe down the prized dolls, that are handed down by means of generations, and all the time saved as a pair

As Navaratri concludes, we observe down the prized dolls, that are handed down by means of generations, and all the time saved as a pair

A doll that’s older than its proprietor, and one which can in all probability outlive her. Marapachi, with their chiseled options and wealthy mahogany color, are stuffed with mystique. Proudly owning them is a big duty — they arrive with a algorithm for utilization and storage. The primary one being: by no means separate the couple.

“We have now to deliver him near her,” Rama Venkat tells us as we organize her marapachi assortment for {a photograph}. “They can’t be away from one another.” The dolls, fabricated from purple sanders, are a should in each golu. Ask anybody who owns these dolls, and they’re going to share the age of their marapachi with delight: for many of them are a number of a long time previous.

S Gurumurthy owns marapachi dolls which are over 200 years previous
| Photograph Credit score: Siva Saravanan S

Chitra Kannan owns two pairs: “One is mine, which is 30 years previous, the opposite is my mom’s, which should be over 70 years previous,” she tells us, mentioning the distinction in options between the 2. “My mom’s dolls have significantly better options,” she says. Chitra inherited her mom’s dolls. “She purchased me a brand new pair after I received married, as is the custom,” she explains, including that her mom purchased them from a store close to Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai.

Coimbatore-based Rama Venkat together with her assortment of marapachi dolls
| Photograph Credit score: Siva Saravanan S

Bharathi Santhanam’s marapachi couple has a son and daughter dolls subsequent to them, which is kind of uncommon. “I made them a household,” she smiles, including that the little dolls are in reality one other couple. Her dolls are about 50 years previous. “My mom received them at Tirupathi when she occurred to go on a pilgrimage,” she recollects. The couple are wearing costumes original out of glitter paper, that Bharathi designed a few years in the past.

There’s a motive why the dolls are gifted by mom to daughter. “They signify union and togetherness,” says 56-year-old Chitra. Which is why when she brings them out from their cupboard space yearly throughout Navaratri, she does so with prayerful consideration.

Lengthy earlier than the Authorities’s ban on felling of purple sanders, marapachi dolls weren’t simply confined to the types of man and lady. Based on M Sridhar, Coimbatore-based antiquarian and founding father of Indian Vintage Quest, a platform that sources and sells antiques, there have been deities in addition to king and queen marapachi dolls prior to now.

“They had been primarily made at Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh owing to the supply of purple sanders within the area,” he says, including: “Crimson sanders was used as a result of the wooden has medicinal worth. It’s believed to have digestive in addition to therapeutic properties.”

Sridhar explains how a block of the wooden can be saved within the kitchen to be rubbed within the mortar with water and used as a paste on cuts and rashes when in want. “The dolls got as teethers to kids of the family as nicely,” he says, including that some {couples} dressed up their marapachi within the precise miniature variations of their marriage ceremony outfit. “This fashion, they’d immortalise their seems on their marriage ceremony day at a time cameras weren’t straightforward to come back by,” says Sridhar.

The dolls got as teethers to kids of the family
| Photograph Credit score: Particular association

The couple dolls had been in reality collectively even earlier than they had been carved. Sridhar explains: “They’re created from the identical block of wooden. If positioned subsequent to one another, one can discover how the grains and textures run into one another as one.” He owns a 120-year-old pair and recollects his grandmother’s strict directions on how one can put them away after being displayed. “‘You tie them with material with the dolls dealing with one another, and by no means their backs to at least one one other’, she would say,” he says laughing: “And she or he would ask us to cowl their ears nicely since they in all probability pay attention to each dialog at dwelling.”

The couple dolls are created from the identical block of wooden
| Photograph Credit score: Particular association

Historical past and Indology buff S Gurumurthy owns a two-feet tall couple, that’s 100 years previous. The 64-year-old additionally owns a number of marapachi treasures which are 200 to 300 years previous. “They belonged to my nice grandfather,” he says. Rama Venkat has 4 pairs of the dolls, one in all which she inherited from her mother-in-law, that’s 150 years previous.

So, which amongst these is probably the most stunning marapachi couple? It’s laborious to say, for these dolls are very private, every carry treasured reminiscences. If I had been to choose one, it might be mine. They might not maintain any vintage worth, however had been a present from somebody particular. I selected them from a tiny store outdoors Parthasarathy temple, Triplicane, eight years in the past.

By- The Hindu

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