Unique dolls celebrate the diversity of Indian culture

In this age where smartphones and video games have replaced traditional toys as popular forms of entertainment, a four-decade-old doll museum in Jaipur, the capital of western Indian state of Rajasthan, has risen like a phoenix. The museum was set up in 1975 and was a famous tourist destination in the 1970s and 1980s but it fell off the tourism itinerary in recent years because of its abject state: faces of dolls were broken, their clothes tattered, and layers of dust on them made them a picture of utter neglect.

Four years ago, a charitable trust took it upon itself to resurrect it. It painstakingly restored the old dolls, added almost an equal number of new ones, some of them from dolls connoisseurs from across the world, and constructed an extra wing in order to refurbish the repository.

The ‘new’ museum opened to people in July this year, reopening the window to an amazing world of dolls representing culture and traditions of different Indian states as also of different countries.

It is situated on the campus of Rajasthan’s biggest government school for children with hearing and speech disability, Seth Anandi Lal Poddar Mook Badhir (mute and deaf) Senior Secondary School, near Police Memorial Circle. The school was set up in July 1945 but the dolls museum came up only 30 years later when Shrimati Bhagwanibai Gauridutt Sekhsaria Charitable Trust decided to give voice to the hearing and speech impaired children of the school.

The museum began with 300 dolls, much smaller in comparison to Shankar’s International Dolls Museum in New Delhi that has 7,500 dolls on display, but equally popular among tourists. The museum came to represent the diversity of Indian culture through attires and dance forms of different states. It also served as a window to the art, culture and costumes of different countries of the world.

But over the years, it fell on hard times due to lack of maintenance. Thick layers of dust settled on these rare gems of historical value and heat had its own role in damaging the dolls.

In 2014, Yashwant Kanwar Ranjeet Singh Bhandari Memorial Foundation took the initiative of rebuilding and renovating the museum. It signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Rajasthan for the same because the campus is government property.

Surendra Singh Bhandari, chartered accountant and trustee of the foundation, says: “We felt that these lively dolls with different backgrounds are not only a source of exposure of culture and entrainment to the visitors but also best represent specially challenged children with their expression.”

Art conservator Rashmi Sharma was roped in to help with the restoration of dolls. Bhandari and his family and friends looked out for connoisseurs who could contribute dolls from their personal collections to the Jaipur museum. When more dolls arrived, more showcases were required. The foundation constructed an additional wing, naming it after Bhandari’s parents — Savita and Ranjit Singh Bhandari — and a central hall to connect the two wings. New wooden showcases with special texture paint in the background and special lights were brought in. The museum was made air-conditioned to prevent damage to dolls due to heat and dust.

Bhandari proudly shows me around the refurbished museum that was inaugurated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on July 15. Two octagonal halls have 19 showcases to display 700 dolls with description about their background and country of origin. The donated dolls also have names of collectors. One hall is named after the founders — Bhagwanibai Sekhsaria — and the other after the renovators — Savita-Ranjit Singh Bhandari.

Spread across 3,000 square feet, the museum is now a treat to art lovers.

“It was a huge task refurbishing the existing ones and give them a renewed look. We had to gather information from the respective countries about the socio-economic conditions back then, which these dolls belonged, and redo the look to make them look better. Some of them were in an abject state but now they all look perfect,” Sharma told The Times of India.

The museum is now open to public after a gap of four years. It opens at 9am and closes at 5pm. The entry tickets are priced at Rs 5 (for students), Rs 10 (for adults) and Rs 50 for foreigners.

At the entrance to Bhagwanibai Sekhsaria Hall is a picture of dolls before restoration to give the visitor a sense of the hard work that has gone into the museum’s present form. The Chief Minister was impressed with the new collection. She said, “I could have not imagined having such a beautiful collection and I feel glad to see so many new additions from across the world. I like the way it is presented here and this will definitely add more to the tourist attractions in our pink city.”

The showcases are titled Unity in Diversity, Dances of India, Men and Women: Special Apparels, Bridal Couples of India, Couples of Indian States, Gaiety in Costumes – European Dolls, One World – Art in Creation, Europe of the East and English Puppets. These showcase the cultural festivity and diversity of the world.

There are dolls from 40 countries, including Japan, India, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mexico, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and Laos. The English puppets have been contributed by Shivani Sethia from London, and some Japanese dolls have been given away to the museum by Annu Khandelwal of Tokyo. Japanese dolls form the biggest collection at the Jaipur museum. “Dolls in Japanese tradition signify different aspects of culture: they are used as toys, symbol of tradition and folklore, token of friendship or as part of festival,” says Bhandari.

In the Savita-Ranjit Singh Bhandari Hall, a billboard delving into the history of dolls has been strategically placed to introduce visitors to this fascinating world before he goes around the museum. It reads: “Doll is considered to be one of the oldest art forms. There is an amazing relationship of humans and dolls from ice age to the present. The Willendorf Venus (28,000 BC-25,000 BC) is recognized to be the world’s first doll. It is a statuette of a female figure found in 1908 by archaeologists at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf village in Austria. In 2004, archaeologists dug up a 4000-year-old head in the ruins of a village in Italy — it had curly hair and was buried with miniature kitchen toys.”

The oldest dolls were made from clay, stone, wood, iron, leather or wax. Roman rag dolls have been found dating back to 300 BC. In India, the oldest toys have been found at the sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, dating back to 5,000 years. The 19th century dolls used porcelain for heads and leather, cloth, wood or papier mâché for body.

Principal of the school for children with disability, Pukhraj Arya, says playing with dolls develops cognitive and motor skills of such children and improves their caring and nurturing skills. “They learn to work through strong emotions and that makes the world more manageable for them,” she adds.

Rakesh Kumar is a writer based in Jaipur, India.