Running head: KONDAPALLI TOYS 1

A REPORT ON KONDAPALLI TOYS

A. LAKSHMI SWETHA

20171NA002

Jbr architecture college

Abstract

Handicrafts of a country showcases the rich cultural and artistic history of that nation. One such

handicraft is kondapalli toys in Andhra Pradesh. Kondapalli toy makers use of number of

techniques combined with exquisite and vibrant designs to make the most intriguing artistic

artifacts. By the turn of the 21th Century, kondapalli toys virtually reduced to a lost art and has

been under severe threat of extinction. Demand for these traditional toys had decreased due to

increase in demand for modern toys and chain toys and this once beautiful craft form had

become a caricature of itself. Fresh attempts have been made to revive the lost art of kondapalli

toys as a cottage industry with the combined efforts of NGO’s, designers and entrepreneurs.

The aim of this paper is to analyze different problems facing by artisans, analyze the acceptancy

rate of these toys in today’s market and suggest new ways the art can be revived particularly in

field of interiors.

Keywords: kondapalli toys, Indian crafts, revival of craft, kondapalli toy makers.

Aim:

To understand and revive the art form kondapalli toys

Objectives:

To study about kondapalli toys and the problems faced by artisans

To do a survey about the acceptance rate of kondapalli toys

To help revive the art by suggesting new ways to produce and promote the art
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A REPORT ON KONDAPALLI TOYS

INTRODUCTION

Kondapalli toys are wooden toys made in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh in

kondapalli , near Vijayawada. Kondapalli toys are famous for their light weight, vibrant colors

and age-old production techniques. They are popularly known as Kondapalli bommalu, these

toys are often made to represent rural India, Hindu ditties, popular seances from epics like

Mahabharata etc ( Kondapalli Toys - Wikipedia)

The toys are made by artisans said to have migrated from Rajasthan several

generations ago. The artisans who make these toys are known as ‘Arya kshatriyas’. It is

said that these craftsmen migrated from Rajasthan to Kondapalli around the 16th century

bringing with them the art of crafting toys.

This 400-year-old tradition has passed on from generation to generation with every

member taking part in the toy-making activity in ‘Toy Colony’ of Kondapalli. There is

also reference to this group of people in the “Brahmanda Purana”.

In the 16th century, Anavema Reddy invited around 10-12 families, all wooden

handicrafts specialists from Rajasthan, to his court.

These chitrakaras (craftsmen) claim that it was their ancestors who sculpted the

numerous sculptures like the Garuda, Nandi, Simha and the Vahanas in the many temples

in Andhra Pradesh

An integral part of the Dusshera and Sankranthi celebrations is the

‘BommalaKoluvu’ or ‘Kollu’, when toys are collected and ceremoniously displayed and

most children and women would vie to have the most grand and elaborate collection. The

artisans of Kondapalli would make the most business during these festivals, but these

traditions are slowly vanishing and with them artisans are forced to look at measures to

cut costs and switch to enamel colors instead of natural dyes

It was registered as one of the geographical indication handicrafts from Andhra

Pradesh as per Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act,

1999(Kondapalli Toys - Kondapalli Bommalu)

PROCESS AND MATERIALS OF MAKING KONDAPALLI TOYS

Wood

Kondapalli toys are made of wood available locally called as Tella Poniki (White Sander wood

and botanically called Jiuotia Rotteri Fromis).

The Kondapalli craftsmen use this particular wood because this wood is soft, light weight

and can be easily carved. The wood is brought by the craftsmen from the nearby forests of

Gangineni, Adlapadu, Konduru, Chevuturu and Madhavaram. Most of the times, instead of

cutting down the entire tree, they just cut the branches so that the tree develops the branches

again and the wood is available for more time

Making Process

Selection of Wood, Cutting and Cutting, Carving, Filing and Finishing

Pre-coating Painting
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Selection of Wood, Cutting and Seasoning

• Healthy and mature trees of ‘Tella Poniki’ that have reached a height of minimum 10–15

feet and 2-3 feet bark diameter are selected from the nearby forests of Kondapalli.

• The selected tree is cut/ chopped into wood of manageable pieces. The freshly wood is

usually heavy in weight.

• It is therefore allowed to dry in the sun for about 20days to a month. This is called

seasoning.

• During this time the cut wood loses sufficient moisture and becomes light and soft, to the

extent that one can cut through the wood with ease.

• This makes it suitable to carve interesting figures

Cutting, Carving, Filing and Joining

• The dried wood is then cut into pieces according to the desired size of the toy to be made,

by using an axe.
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• Then bahudara is used to carve the desired shape of the toy. It is a tool used to carve the

soft wood in order to get the desired shape.

• This tool is unique in the production of Kondapalli Bommalu.

• The Kondapalli toys at all stages of carving are subjected to a slow process of heating on

a wire frame to evaporate the moisture.

• The carved soft wood is then filed using aakrai  to give it a better shape and smooth

finish.

• Other body parts (hands, pots, musical instruments, etc.) are carved and heated separately

before being joined to the main sculpted body by using a locally prepared adhesive

called temma jiguru  (acacia gum).

Finishing

• The skeleton of the toy after carving has rough and square edges. These edges are

rounded to give the toy a smooth body by applying makku. This gives final shape to the

toy.
KONDAPALLI TOYS 8

• Makku is made by boiling a mixture of finely ground powder of tamarind seeds and saw

dust in water until it becomes a smooth paste

• It is applied using a tool called palapu chekka. This tool is a thin and smooth piece that

fits comfortably in one’s hands, made by filing a cow’s horn into a smooth oval shaped

device.

Pre-coating

• When the makku  dries completely, the toy with its smooth edges and all basic

components resembles the final shape.

• Its initial finish is brought about by skillfully applying a coat of sudda (lime) mixed

with temma jiguru through a brush.

• All the tasks of the toy production until this stage are usually done by men in the family.

Then the women of the family take over to paint the toy with brushes.
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Painting

There are three kinds of paints being used - oil, vegetable dyes and enamel. Oil paints are

used for regular toys, vegetable dyes for the export quality toys and enamel paints on pieces

created for special occasions. A coat of linseed oil is given to toys painted with vegtable colors to

make them water proof

D'source Introduction | Traditional Toys of Kondapalli | D'Source Digital Online Learning

Environment for Design: Courses, Resources, Case Studies, Galleries, Videos (dsource.in)

DESIGN OF KONDAPALLI TOYS

The toy makers of these toys are making these toys from decades with the design

inspiration from the nature, rural life (crop harvesting, selling vegetables, bull cart, and activities

of day to day life), important life events (marrage pallaki, pellikoduku and pellikuturu etc), and

toy makers also make the toys that depicts Mythological figures from Mahabharata.
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WORD FROM THE ARTISAN

Name: Sesha rao Udayagiri

Age: 62years

Family: they are family of 4 with a son and a daughter

Practicing this craft since: 1974

Sesha rao udayagiri is practicing this craft since he is 20 years old, he learnt this craft

from his mother who is also a toy maker at her time, he says that the artisans are called from

Rajasthan in 16th centuray to decorate the interiors of kondapalli place, through the time the

artisan have settled in kondapalli foot hills and started making toys from” tella ponika” wood.

At present 80 families are currently working on this craft (200 artisans) which may not be

the same number in the future, as I asked him about his son not practicing this art form, he

doesn’t want his son to become an artist like him rather he educated his son and sent him to

states to find a job, the reason behind him not interested in his son’s artistic future is the

problems that they are facing today as an artisan

The major problems they are facing today is the shortage of tella ponika wood, and the

decrease in the demand of these wood toys, and also lack of support from the government

towards these artisans, on an average the earns up to 500-700rs per day.

To over come problem of wood scarcities, they started searching for an alternative of

wood, currently they are using “new wood” as their alternative.

Though there’s lack of support from the government few NGO’s and private

organizations like LANCO group are supporting the artisans by conducting workshops to

modernise this art to reach larger crowd, and by giving bulk orders for corporate events.

Majority of the toys are purchased by LEPAKSHI Handicrafts and GOLCONDA

Emporium -70% and the rest of the toys are sold in local village stalls.

Though there is online market for these toys through out the world and through out the

India, the artisans are not able to get their hand on online market as there should be some extra

help to maintain and check the eCommerce websites, as all of them are artists and they work

from 8am to 6pm 7 days a weak there is no time for them to maintain and check the ecommerce

sites.

A new workshop and learning centre are proposed by central government for the welfare

of the artisans, the artisans are looking for a ray of hope from the proposed workshop.

CHANGING ART

For long, artisans from Kondapalli have reveled in making toys that draw from

Dasavatharam and other myths or depict rural lifestyles through images of people and cattle.

Sensing the need to take a fresh look at Kondapalli toys, the Development Commissioner

(Handicrafts), Government of Andhra Pradesh, mooted a design intervention programme.

Hyderabad-based fashion designer ARAVIND JASHUA, known for his staunch support to khadi,

stepped in when he learnt of the move.

Jashua worked with 30 artisans, 20 women and 10 men, for over two months and is

excited to reveal some of the newer designs that have been made possible.

Kondapalli toys of trucks, auto rickshaws, colorful Gangireddu and skillfully painted

utility wooden boxes are all part of the revamp, The designer was also reminded of art on auto

rickshaws that he saw in Hyderabad’s Old City in 1998–2000. 

The inspirations

More ideas stemmed from his observations at a design meet in New Delhi. Much later,

when he saw women artisans in Kondapalli painting wooden boxes, he was reminded of Jamini

Roy’s paintings. “All these inspirations worked at a subconscious level when we were thinking

of creating something new,”

The designer’s initiation towards native crafts happened during his student days at

National Institute of Fashion Technology. “As part of the curriculum, he was sent to craft centres

all over India to learn about various crafts and document them. Over the years, he had an interest

in crafts.( Kondapalli toys 2.0 - The Hindu)

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
•Maintaining the Andhra Pradesh •No support from the
culture government
•Needs low capital investment •Lacking with infrastructure 
•Provides employment for many •Youger generations of artisans
artisans not practising this art
•High potential in the domestic •Inadequent information about
and international market New technologies and
•Natural dyes are used  development

OPPORTUNITIES 
•Emerging demand for handicraft THREATS
goods abroad •Increse in demand for modern
•More scope for research and and china toys
development •Most of the artisans are not
•Rasing demand and usage of adapting new technologies and
handcrafted products  new markets
•e-comers and internet emerged •Scarcity of wood
as distribution channels
•Scope of application in interiors

DEMAND FOR NON-TOXIC TOYS

Market research reports suggest that there is greater demand for non-toxic wooden toys

across the world. There is a visible change in the way schools and households are looking at toys

for children, say artisans. Toys made of plastic and other hazardous material are being replaced

by wooden toys and toys made of other non-hazardous material. This provides wooden toy-
KONDAPALLI TOYS 15

makers a great opportunity to innovate and meet the surging demand. Artisans feel encouraged

by Modi’s push, but the toy story can end well only if their many problems are addressed and the

government manages to bring the industry out of the woods, they say.

(Far from a happy toy story: Traditional toy makers face Chinese goods, high GST and lack of

funds - The Hindu)

ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TOYS IN MARKET

In the surveys I have done most of the public are ready to accept the art form but in a new

and in modern way around 75% of the public are aware of this art form and are ready to support

this art form in their best possible way

Public under the age of 40 to 60 are aware of the art form and used them in their course

of time and public under the age 25 to 30 are mostly not aware of the art form but are ready to

incorporate in their design.

Most of the public sees this art form can be majorly used as artifacts and furniture

elements and are looking for the major changes in this art form to meet the current trends like

educating youth about this art form, exhibiting this art form in malls or public spaces, making

new kind of toys that younger generations can play with, or furniture pieces like table legs or

coffee tables can be in cooperate in this toy making so it reaches more no of audience
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KONDAPALLI TOYS 17

CONCLUSION

Based on data collection and the survey I have come to an understanding that kondapalli

toy have high acceptance rate in today’s market and have a good scope in field of interior design

As the responsible citizen’s its every once duty to revive this art and make artisans meet

the live hood.