Few countries have as varied an assortment
of dolls as India. Delhi is only one of many Indian
centres for toy and doll making besides being
a meeting place for dolls from all parts of India
as well as the world.
The Delhi Dolls Museum-aptly named Shankar’s
International Dolls Museum in memory of its inventive
creator, K. Shankar Pillai (1902-1989)-boasts
of one of the largest collections of costume dolls
in the world.
Founded in 1957, the museum started with just
a thousand dolls. It added 5,000 more dolls to
its collection between 1965 and 1987-most of them
coming as gifts. Today the museum houses over
6,500 exhibits from over 85 countries. |
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The museum is divided into two sections, one displaying
dolls from Yugoslavia, Greece, Mexico, Thailand, Poland,
South Korea, the United Kingdom, former USSR, North
and South America, Australia, New Zealand and some other
countries.
The other section is devoted to Asian countries, the
Middle East, Africa, and different states of India.
Particularly attractive are the costume dolls from Rajasthan,
Kashmir and Kerala. There are also special displays
on themes such as Man on the Moon, Gandhiji’s Dandi
March, A Forest Scene, A Kathakali Stage, etc.
Other interesting exhibits include a 250-year-old doll
from Switzerland; Maypole dance (Hungary); Flamenco
dancers from Spain; the Kabuki dancer of Japan; a scene
from the Ramayana (Thailand); Bridal pairs (Indonesia);
the Kandy Perahera Festival (Sri Lanka); Mexican aborigines;
Australian Maoris, characters from a ballet (South Korea);
dolls in picturesque folk costumes from Bulgaria and
the dancing dolls of Tamil Nadu.
One of the most complicated details is getting the right
jewellery for the dolls. Changes are made, larger items
broken up and new composites formed, bits and pieces
taken from here and there to make an authentic whole.
Each doll is seemingly as sensitive as its human counterpart.
The museum becomes a hub of activity during summer (May
to July) when legions of holidaying schoolchildren come
here all the way from the south. A prime attraction
of the museum is the Dolls Workshop, which has been
engaged in preparing Indian dolls with authentic details
since the late seventies.
Each doll is fashioned with meticulous care after
prolonged research into the physical features of the
individual character, stance, dress and jewellery. The
dolls are arranged in groups like Dances of India, Brides
of India, Man and Woman, etc. They are given away in
exchange for foreign dolls as well as sold to collectors
and museums both in India and abroad.
The Dolls Museum at Delhi is a miniature world come
alive with dolls representing the social life of many
countries. Here, among the figures beautiful and more
varied than the figures of Old China, the world’s children
meet. So do the cultures to which they are the heirs.
In the blissful beauty of the museum, they represent
a world at peace, a world of visual harmony.
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