Kinnal craft or Kinhal craft (), is a traditional wooden

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

local to the town of

Kinnal Kinnal, also called Kinhal, is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India.Village code= 609700 Kinhal, Koppal, Karnataka It is located in the Koppal taluk of Koppal district in Karnataka. This village is famous for Kinnal craft. Rec ...

(also spelled Kinhal) in

Koppal District Koppala district, officially known as Koppala district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. In the past Koppal was referred to as 'Kopana Nagara'. Hampi, a World heritage center, covers some areas of Koppala District ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, India. The town is famous for toys and religious idols. Recently, this craft has been granted

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 or region). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, is inten ...

History

Kinnal was once a flourishing centre for crafts, the most well-known being carvings in wood. The famous mural paintings in the Pampapateshwara Temple and the intricate work on the wooden chariot at

Hampi Hampi or Hampe (), also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the town of Hampi in Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi predates the Vijayanagara Empire; it is menti ...

are said to be the work of the ancestors of the Kinnal artisans of today. Old paper tracings found in the ancestral house of one of the artisans further substantiates this belief. In 2007, students from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

in collaboration with the Crafts Council of Karnataka, facilitated a project with local students and craftsmen, in an attempt to revive the Kinnal craft.

Method

The artisans are called ''chitragara''. Lightweight wood is used for the toys. The paste used for joining the various parts is made of

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

seeds and pebbles.

Jute Jute ( ) is a long, rough, shiny bast fibre that can be Spinning (textiles), spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', of the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ...

rags, soaked, slivered into pieces, dried, powdered, and mixed with saw dust and tamarind seed paste is made into ''kitta''. A mixture of pebble powder paste with liquid gum is used for embossing the ornamentation and jewellery on the body of the figure. Once the components of the figure are assembled, ''kitta'' is applied by hand all over, and small pieces of cotton are stuck on it with the tamarind paste. Over this is applied the pebble paste which forms the base for the application of paint. Previously, toys depicting people involved in various occupations were popular; now the preference is for figures, animals, and birds.

Garuda Garuda (; ; Vedic Sanskrit: , ) is a Hindu deity who is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. This divine creature is mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths. Garuda is also the half-brother of the D ...

, the epic bird, has 12 components while Lord

Ganesha Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions ...

on a throne has 22 components. The styling is realistic and the designing and chiselling has a master touch. In the festival season, clay toys and images are made, often out of cowdung and sawdust.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Glasgow Kinnal Project – no longer validBook about the Kinhal Craft produced by Scottish team
* orm GI-1 of Application No. 213 available at https://web.archive.org/web/20150320221220/http://ipindiaservices.gov.in/GirPublic/ViewApplicationDetails.aspx?AppNo=20&Index=0 Indian woodwork Culture of Karnataka Wooden sculptures Geographical indications in Karnataka

History

Method

See also

References

External links