Kondapalli Toys are toys made of wood in

Kondapalli Kondapalli is a industrial and residential hub located in western part of Vijayawada in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality in Ibrahimpatnam mandal in Vijayawada revenue division of NTR district. It is closest to Ibrahi ...

Krishna district Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the ...

, a nearby

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. ''Bommala Colony'' translates to ''Toys Colony'' in Kondapalli is the place where the art of crafting takes place. It was registered as one of the

geographical indication A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

from Andhra Pradesh as per ''Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999''. This GI application was filed by LIGHT (LANCO Institute of General Humanitarian Trust) and Kondapalli Wooden Toys Manufacturers.These toys were one of the varieties of toys assembled in the houses during the festivals of

Sankranti Sankranti ( sa, संक्रान्ति ''saṁkrānti or saṅkramaṇa'') means transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calen ...

and

Navratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is o ...

and is referred as Bommala Koluvu.

History

The art of crafting is a 400-year-old tradition. The

artisans An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...

who make the toys are referred as ''Aryakhastriyas'' (also known as Nakarshalu), who have their mention in the ''

Brahmanda Purana The ''Brahmanda Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण, ) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies. The text ...

''. They are said to have migrated from

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

in the 16th century to Kondappali and claims their origin to Muktharishi, a sage endowed with skills in arts and crafts by

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

Wood craft models on display at Shilparamam in Hyderabad

Toy crafting

The Kondapalli toys are made from

soft wood Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main differences between hardwoods and softwoods is that the s ...

known as ''Tella Poniki'' which are found in nearby Kondapalli Hills. Each part is carved out separately. Then makku- a paste of tamarind seed powder & sawdust is used to join pieces together, add details and finish the toys. The later step involves coloring with either oil and

water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s or

vegetable dye Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other biological sources such as fungi. Archaeolo ...

s and

enamel paint Enamel paint is paint that air-dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish, used for coating surfaces that are outdoors or otherwise subject to hard wear or variations in temperature; it should not be confused with decorated objects in "painted ename ...

s are applied based on the type of the toys. The

mainly work on producing figures of mythology, animals, birds, bullock carts, rural life etc., and the most notable one is ''

Dasavataram The Dashavatara ( sa, दशावतार, ) are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu, a principal Hindu god. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. The word ''Dashavatara'' derives from , meaning "ten", an ...

'',

dancing dolls Dancing Dolls are a Japanese female idol group. The group originally consisted of five childhood friends from Osaka: Hono (Honoka Kadomoto - 門元穂果), Mii (Misaki Nakajima - 中島弥咲), Misaki (Misaki Sakurada - 桜田美咲), and twins ...

etc.

Support

The art form which has got patronage from the rulers in ancient times is in decline due to lack of profits, time taking to produce toys, influence of western art and younger generations not encouraged towards this art.

Lepakshi Lepakshi is a village in the Sri Sathya Sai district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located east of Hindupur and approximately west of Kadiri and north of Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest ...

and ''Lanco Institute of General Humanitarian Trust'' took initiative to keep alive the art of crafting toys.

References

{{reflist Culture of Andhra Pradesh Indian woodwork Traditional toys Wooden toys Krishna district Geographical indications in Andhra Pradesh

History

Toy crafting

Support

See also

References