The festive season is almost over – so is the season for livelihood for a group of artisans – those who make toys. It is in festivals and fairs such as Dussehra, Diwali, Golu, Gangaur, Bali Jatra, Chhath, Charak and innumerable local ‘mela(s)’ of India that the toy makers used to make their presence. In an India which is increasingly becoming urban-rurban, the fairs are getting to be less and less in number, as also the toys and the toymakers. The earthen and wooden toys made in this part of the world for thousands of years (the Harappan or Indus-Saraswati Civilisation whichever way you want to name it, was well known for the terracotta figurines) is slowly dying a painful and neglected death in this ‘soon to be fully developed’ country. The rising inflation and absence of buyers (forget admirers) have forced the helpless craftsmen to shift to other industries or even agriculture. Toys are not only made up of clay or papier maches. From candle toys of Nainital to dhokras of Bastar, wood carving of North-eastern states to stone carving of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Southern states – the craft of toy-making is overwhelmingly present all over India. However, apart from few trade-fairs organised here and there and a decade old Shilpa-Guru awards, there is hardly any incentive from the Government to revive handicrafts for toy-making. People themselves are equally to be blamed – the tech-heavy and action oriented plastic and metal toys coupled with video games are making our next generation oblivious to our own traditional handicrafts while we continue to boisterously vouch for a green world!
The attitude of historians and research scholars to the history and culture of toys in India is no better – subaltern studies too have bypassed these craftsmen and their history. There is a dearth of public museums for toys in India – only a few private ones exist (mostly owned by painters and sculptors – artists themselves). The result is the disappearance of several types of toys and the crafts associated with them. Lac toys of Ilambazar, West Bengal are now extinct.
Only a few miniature toy-makers are left in Lucknow. In fact, the wooden toy shops in Varanasi have given way to their plastic counterparts. Not all is lost though – the Krishnanagar and Channapatna toy industries are thriving relatively well for their artistry and superior finishes. Also, the artisans at Panchmura, Gorakhpur, Kondapalli, Nirmal, Bastar, Raghurajpur are experimenting and reinventing the traditional toy figurines. Pleasant surprises too came in recent years in the form of Madhubani toys. Toys are not only for children’s play – they represent a continuous culture and some keen observations. Birds and animals are often accurately represented with minimal brush-strokes. Gods and Goddesses intermingle with the common folk whereas stories are depicted in a lucid form. Simple forms of innovation are used in these toys to portray action, emotion and common senses. There is need for a sustained effort from all of us – the collectors, common people, researchers and government agencies to preserve these toys as much as we can and to educate the younger generation of an actual colourful past – not to mention the support, patronage needed by the artisans from us to prevent the extinction of the rich tradition of toy-making.
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