Toys of our ancestors
Toys are not only for playing but they have the ability to open new vistas into the world of education as well. During my visit to the Salar Jung museum I had the fortune to see such historical toys which were put on display. These were the Kondapalli toys from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries which are made from wood by the Aryakshatriyas, a group of people who migrated from Rajasthan.
The wood is heated to dry it and every limb is separately carved and joined to the body with adhesive paste of tamarind seeds, then coated with lime glue and painted with fine goat hairs. The figures are also of tribal men and women from the period. Paper mache also found its place in this display with a large horse and a musician with a sitar being models of paper mache art.
These toys are images of ordinary people in the 19th Century. A sadhu lying down on a bed of needles, women carrying pots of water on their heads showed that these toys were images of the layman.
I illustrated some toys without using pentab just to attain the rawness of the art. It was difficult at first but I could clearly see improvement with each drawing. Simplicity was the essence of all these toys and herein lay a marked difference from the toys of today.
Thank you!
