Saraswati

Dimensions: 14cm high, 9cm wide.
Code: CLAY 4321

Vintage terracotta bommai of Saraswati from Tamil Nadu from the 1940s. Saraswati is the goddess of wisdom, learning and the arts, especially music. She symbolises creative power. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Saraswati is called “the mother of eloquent speech and melodious music”. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman wearing white, as seen here, and is adorned with a golden crown. She is seated and she holds a musical instrument, the veena (lute) which is believed to communicate that knowledge creates harmony. She is widely worshiped by artists and performers and also students. The Hindu festival of Vasant Panchami which welcomes the spring is also known as Saraswati puja, a day when the goddess is worshiped with prayers, feasts, poetry and music.

Bommai are figures used for the display of dolls and figurines that takes place in South India during the Hindu festival of Navaratri, which is a nine-day festival celebrating the victory of good over evil. In Southern India the bommai are presented in the home on tier shelves, and friends and neighbours are invited to visit to view the displays and exchange gifts and sweets. There is evidence of this tradition dating back to the fourteenth century. Today, the exhibits are typically thematic, narrating a legend from a Hindu text or a secular cultural issue. The dolls are collected and passed on from one generation to another as an heirloom and new figures are added each year. These terracotta figures are also known as Kolu, Gombe Habba, Bommai Kolu, Bommalu Kolueru or Bommala Koluvu.