Navarathri or Dussera festival is celebrated in the month of purattasi.
This festival seems to have been introduced to Tamil Nadu
by the Mysore rulers. It is celebrated mostly in the towns or in
places connected with kings and chieftains. Observance of Navarathri
and exhibition of dolls in their wide variety and colour and costumes
is confined to the upper strata of society. The common
folk in the villages celebrate the Puravai Eduppu or festival of
horse dolls in the temples of Ayyanar in the summer. This festival
of dolls has helped to sustain the amazing skill at clay doll-making
in Tamil Nadu. The raw materials used are clay, papier-mache and
paints.
