Gombe habba in Bengaluru

A first gombe can cost about ₹2,500 or over ₹30,000. We read the gombe requests Bengaluru families sent us this year and what the decorators we work with charge for a pooja backdrop, and priced stands, dolls and lamps from the makers. It covers what a gombe costs, what goes on each step, hiring a decorator and the 2027 dates.

Navaratri 2027: 30 Sep to 8 Oct6 providers on mytribeUpdated 26 Oct 2026, prices dated below
An illustration of a five-step gombe in deep red cloth on a saffron background, rows of small clay dolls on each step, a wooden king and queen couple and a brass pot with a coconut on top, and a lit brass lamp on each side at the foot
Picture: Illustration by mytribe
Q1

What does a gombe cost in Bengaluru, done at home or with help?

A first small gombe costs about ₹2,500: a 3-step wooden stand, a marapachi couple and a pair of brass lamps, with dolls the family already has. A 5-step stand with the cover made for it, the couple and one clay set is about ₹8,400, and seven steps with new dolls about ₹13,500 to ₹31,000. The stand and dolls are bought once, so later years cost about ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 for return gifts and a new set or two, by our estimate. A decorator's floral backdrop starts at about ₹10,000, with travel and a visit to take it down on top (question 6).

What your gombe budget buys

₹0₹40,000

Anything you must have?

At about ₹10,000 you can pay for About ₹8,400: a 5-step gombe, your first year.

No backdrop and lights.

What changes at the next price, About ₹13,500 to ₹31,000. At about ₹13,500 the stand has seven steps and you add four wooden gods. Seven steps take years to fill, so a bare step in the first year is normal.

  1. About ₹8,400

    Your budget

    A 5-step gombe, your first year

    • Steps: 5-step plastic stand, Compact size, ₹4,500 (Giri)

    • Cover: The cover made for that stand, ₹800 (Giri)

    • The couple: A 6-inch marapachi pair, ₹775 (Giri)

    • Other dolls: One clay set, ₹1,875 (Giri)

    • Lamps: A brass pair, ₹450 (Zishta)

    • Backdrop and lights: No (Your own)

    • Taking it down: Yours to do (Your own)

  2. About ₹13,500 to ₹31,000

    Next price

    A 7-step gombe, all bought new

    • Steps: 7-step plastic stand, ₹6,400 to ₹13,450 by width (Giri)

    • Cover: The cover made for it, ₹1,000 to ₹1,920 (Giri)

    • The couple: ₹775 to ₹3,200 a pair, by size (Giri)

    • Other dolls: A theme set, ₹1,875 to ₹7,600, and four wooden gods, ₹3,000 to ₹3,960 (Giri, Kanchi Golu Dolls, Zishta)

    • Lamps: A brass pair, ₹450 to ₹890 (Zishta)

    • Backdrop and lights: No (Your own)

    • Taking it down: Yours to do (Your own)

Each step adds up the makers' own prices, read on 26 October 2026. The last one uses the cheapest stand and dolls. Prices before delivery.

Q2

What goes on which step of a gombe?

Usually the kalasam and the gods go on the top step, saints and great people on the steps below, and everyday life, like weddings, markets and villages, lower down. The pattada gombe couple (marapachi in Tamil homes) always has a place, and a park or village often sits on the floor in front. Keep an odd number of steps. Customs differ between families, so where your elders have a way, follow it.

One gombe, step by step, and what each piece costs

Tap a number to see what it is and what it costs.

An illustration of a seven-step gombe in red cloth in a flat: a brass kalasam with mango leaves and a coconut between two goddesses on top, a row of the ten avatars, a wooden king and queen couple, an elephant procession with soldiers and drummers, village, market and wedding scenes, a small park with a pond on the floor, and two brass lamps on trays at the front corners
  1. The kalasam and the gods, on top

    ₹750 to ₹990 a doll

    A wooden god or goddess at Zishta. A brass pot for the kalasam is ₹1,380 to ₹1,900 at Giri

Each price is that maker's own listing, read on 26 October 2026, not a quote for this gombe. Picture: Illustration, not a photograph of any home or provider

Q3

How many steps does a gombe need, and should we buy or rent the stand?

Three or five steps are plenty for a first gombe, and the stand can grow later. Buy one if you'll keep a gombe every year: a 5-step steel stand from a Bengaluru maker costs ₹4,600, or ₹5,300 for a plastic one with the cover made for it. Or build the steps from planks on bricks or sturdy boxes under a saree, for nothing. Measure the floor first: a 5-step stand comes about 5 ft into the room.

Q4

Which gombe dolls should we buy first, and where in Bengaluru?

Start with the pattada gombe couple, about ₹800 to ₹3,200 a pair, then add a set or two each year. A clay theme set costs about ₹1,900 to ₹7,600, and a single wooden god or goddess about ₹750 to ₹990. Buy in August, when there's still choice: the popular sets sell out as Navaratri comes close.

Q5

Can we hire someone to set up our gombe, and what do they do?

Yes, for the part that's hard to do yourself: a decorator can put up the backdrop, the drapes and the lights around your steps, the way they dress a corner for a pooja. Keep placing the dolls in the family's hands, and get the second visit, to take it all down after Vijayadashami, written into the quote. Send a photo of your steps and the wall when you ask.

Q6

Why do gombe decorators' prices vary so much?

Mostly it's how much of the wall gets covered, and the hands to do it. A saree on the wall with flower strings and banana stems, put up yourself, costs about ₹1,000 to ₹1,700 in festival week. A decorator's floral backdrop starts at about ₹10,000: Sankalana Decorations says his mostly cost more than that, and Dream Decor's Ganesha festival setups started at ₹14,999 in 2025. Travel, the advance, flowers that need refreshing and the visit to take it down change the bill too, so ask what's in it.

An illustration of a seven-step gombe in white cloth in a flat, with a red and gold silk saree hung on the wall behind it, marigold strings across its top, a banana stem on each side and two small lit brass lamps at the front corners

You put it up, behind your 7 steps

About ₹1,000 to ₹1,700

An illustration of the same seven-step gombe in the same flat, with a wall of fresh orange and yellow marigold and white jasmine strings behind it, a banana stem on each side and two small lit brass lamps at the front corners

A decorator's floral backdrop

From about ₹10,000

A saree of your own on the wall, with 2 kg of flower strings across it

A frame on the wall, covered in flower strings

A banana stem on each side, ₹100 a pair

A banana stem on each side

Your own pair of brass lamps

Your own pair of brass lamps

Flowers wilt in a day or two, so buy more as they go

Ask who refreshes the flowers, and what that costs

Our sum of KR Market prices in festival week, August 2026

Travel and a visit to take it down on top. Sankalana Decorations: floral backdrops mostly above ₹10,000 (Sep 2026). Dream Decor's Ganesha setups: from ₹14,999 (Sep 2025)

Both drawings show the same gombe, banana stems and lamps. Only the backdrop and who puts it up change, and neither price includes your stand or dolls. Photos: Illustration, not a photograph of any home or provider.

Q8

What do haldi-kumkum return gifts cost for a gombe?

A return gift for each haldi-kumkum guest costs about ₹40 to ₹360, so if 25 women come over the nine days, about ₹1,000 to ₹9,000. The simplest is a blouse piece and a kumkum packet, which works out to about ₹77 to ₹87. Buy in bulk once you know roughly how many will come.

Q9

How do we set up a gombe in our apartment clubhouse?

Get the committee's yes in writing first, for the space, the dates and a power point, because the clubhouse belongs to every owner. Pay for it from a separate festival collection, and usually keep the maintenance fund out of it. For a big shared display, a 9-step steel stand costs ₹9,400. Label every family's dolls, lock the room at night, and agree before the first day who takes the stand home.

Before Navaratri, settle these six

  1. How many steps, and the floor space for them: a 5-step stand comes about 5 ft into the room
  2. The stand, the cover and the dolls, ready before the decorator comes
  3. Fresh or artificial flowers, and who refreshes fresh ones
  4. The setup day, and the day they come back to take it down
  5. Travel and the advance, in writing
  6. A proper holder for every lamp, clear of the cloth
Find a decorator who answers these

What Bengaluru families asked us for

Requests to mytribe for a gombe in 2026, in our words.

  • Dasara gollu decorations, 8 steps. We have the dolls and the step stand and will give you everything: just the labour and the styling, ready by 6 pm on 10 October. Wanted it done within ₹6,000.

    8 stepsLabour and stylingBudget ₹6,000

    A family in HSR Layout

    Aug 2026

  • We have Dasara dolls and a pattada gombe. We want the pattada gombe decorated, and decorations for the Dasara dolls, to a theme photo we sent.

    Pattada gombeOwn dollsTo a photo

    A school in Magadi Road

    Aug 2026

Want us to find one?

Every family wants its steps up on the same day or two before Navaratri. The decorators who dress a pooja corner are wanted in many homes that week, and each can be in only one at a time.

Tell us once instead. Send us your steps, your wall and your days, and we come back with decorators who can put a backdrop, drapes and lights around your display, with their own past work and their price once they confirm it. We already know them: we've checked their real work and their prices, and called their past clients, including about what went wrong. Only about 1 in 10 who apply get in, and every one is re-checked at least every six months. How we verify

Every booking comes with an agreement on what's included and what it costs. It's free for you. The decorator pays mytribe a small fee when you book, and you pay them directly, at the same price as going to them yourself. If something isn't going to plan, a person here sorts it out.

The same chat answers questions about the gombe itself, like whether a quote is fair. This guide is about Bengaluru. For another city, ask on the same number.

See all decorators on mytribe

The providers in this guide

All six are on mytribe and tribe approved. Their prices and terms are their own, given to us or published by them.

  • SSankalana DecorationsVarthurBanana-leaf and marigold backdrops, drapes and fairy lights for poojas at home. Floral backdrops mostly cost more than ₹10,000 with him, he told us in September 2026.
    Tribe approved
  • DDream DecorBanashankariBrings brass lamps and a wooden mantapa as props, and takes them back. Her Ganesha menu ran ₹14,999 to ₹24,999 in September 2025, travel ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 in the city.
    Tribe approved
  • DDecor Your DreamsJP NagarDoll-and-plate displays on a flower backdrop. Transport is in her price within about 7 km of JP Nagar, and she needs a week's notice.
    Tribe approved
  • MMahinava EventsWhitefieldMarigold strings, drapes and brass lamps. She mixes fresh flowers where they show with artificial where they must last, and tells you which is which.
    Tribe approved
  • SShubham PartiesRajajinagarDrapes, marigold garlands and fairy lights, built to a photo you send.
    Tribe approved
  • KKottanzBengaluruHandmade gift hampers and wedding thamboolam, with regional crafts.
    Tribe approved

More questions

Ask your own question

Something this page didn't answer? Ask us. We'll find out from the decorators and reply on WhatsApp.

By the mytribe curation team
Updated 25 October 2026
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