Doll Making in India
Posted on July 1, 2008 in Art & Culture by Gitanjali
Dolls are not only adorable to look at or silent companions to play with. On the larger context, they actually represent the culture and tradition of the nation by the way they look, are dressed and the material used to make them. Since India is a land of overlapping customs and cultures, there is naturally no dearth of the variety of indigenous and handmade dolls here. The colourful smiling, elegant shapes and faces speak volumes without words, of their origin.
Dolls represent history
The history of India right from ancient times to the modern is captured in a series of dolls. Simple folk of India are captured in dolls representing rural life in India, traditionally dressed and sporting a contented, dishevelled look. The vividly colourful Indian dances - be it Kathakali, with its complex grammar, or Bhangra, with its vigour and exuberance are also well depicted through dolls. Dolls act as cultural ambassadors reflecting over 5,000 years of Indian civilization.
Different regions and their dolls
Each region is known for its typical dolls and toys. Assam and West Bengal fashion toys out of pith. In the eastern terracotta belt, the theme of “mother and child” models, are popular. Varanasi, Lucknow, Mathura and Vrindavan are reputed for their brightly painted wooden dolls and toys, Tirupati for its dampati (man-woman) dolls. Rajasthan makes dolls of unbaked clay. In Madhubani, dolls are made of sikki, a grass. Kondapalli in Andhra Pradesh makes some of the traditional dolls and toys out of a mixture of cowdung, sawdust and clay and covers them with lustrous pigments.
The Shankar’s International Dolls Museum in Delhi
Be it for the love of India and its history or for a research about dolls or just for the enthusiasm for dolls, the Shankar’s International Dolls Museum in Delhi is worth a watch. Set up by the renowned political cartoonist, K Shankar Pillai (1902-1989), Shankar’s International Dolls Museum has one of the largest collections of costume dolls anywhere in the world. Inside, the museum is divided into two halves. The two sections have over 160 glass cases, 1,000 ft long, mounted on walls. One section displays exhibits from European countries, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Commonwealth of Independent States, other Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India.
There are also special displays besides a representative collection from the over 150 kinds of authentic Indian costume dolls made at the dolls workshop attached to the museum. Indian dolls made at the workshop are exchanged for gifts received from abroad as well as sold to collectors and museums in India and abroad. Each doll is handcrafted after meticulous research into the physical attributes, dress and jewellery of individual characters.
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