Pune, June 14 (IPS) – Sawantwadi in Maharashtra state on India’s west coast, bordering Goa, has at all times been well-known for its wood toys. Sawanwadi is a picturesque city nestled amidst mountains and plush greenery that also retains its old-world allure. The magnificent Swantwadi Palace occupies a pivotal place, and faculties, faculties and temples are secretly positioned across the lake. It was as soon as an extension of the royal area. On the coronary heart of the city is Ubha Bazaar, or the hanging market, which homes a row of outlets promoting Sawantwadi’s signature wood toys.
The wood toys of Sawanwadi are a legacy cultivated by the previous rulers and so they replicate the spirit of the area. Generations of kids in Maharashtra and Goa have grown up with life-like fruits, characters and tug-and-pull toys which can be an important a part of rising up. However today, these rigorously carved, handcrafted toys from kebab and mango wooden are struggling to outlive. The as soon as bustling hilltop market within the coronary heart of Sawanwadi, generally known as Ubha Bazaar (Market within the Sky), is now a ghost of its previous. There at the moment are only some artisan households left who make and promote these toys in their very own workshops and houses.
So, what makes the busy fingers of those craftsmen silent?
On the face of it, a number of components contribute to this example.
Background info
Totally different from a budget machine-made toys which can be flooding the market immediately, toys are conventional handicrafts of India and have historical ancestry from the Indus Valley Civilization period. Like many different facilities in India, Sawanwadi has at all times had gifted craftsmen who have been capable of painstakingly breathe life into wooden and carve out a collection of lifelike figures impressed by on a regular basis life.
Lifelike depictions of vegatables and fruits have been the specialty of Sawanwadi artisans for many years. In fact, there are different toys for youngsters of all ages: pull toys for toddlers, kitchen utensils for little women, bullock carts and different automobiles for older children, and spoons, knives, and ladles to be used across the dwelling. . What makes these toys stand out is the eco-friendly know-how and colours used of their manufacturing.
Toy making in Sawanwadi has its origins within the arrival of the Telangana Brahmins within the seventeenth century, who visited the nation to interact in non secular debates with the then ruler Kansavant II, who was nicely versed in Hindu non secular texts and philosophy. The Chitrali craftsmen who arrived with the Brahmins introduced toy making and ganjifa (taking part in card) craft to Sawanwadi.
Completely suited to the greenery and surroundings of Sawantwadi, the toys listed here are made utilizing kebab and mango wooden, which develop within the dense forests. The wooden used for the toys might be collected throughout the summer time, washed and dried, after which totally soaked all through the monsoons.
As soon as totally dry, carve them into the specified form. After the toy is carved, it’s lined with 5 layers of soil and left for a time frame. A lathe is then used at this stage to offer the specified form and end. After being dusted off and smoothed with sandpaper, they’re coated with a powdered combination of tamarind and different seeds.
After a number of coats of paint, a layer of varnish and pure gum are utilized for the ultimate contact. The lacquer utilized in Sawantwadi toys stays a specialty even immediately. It is sturdy and will not fade or peel irrespective of how tough the toy is used.
When toymaking was on the verge of decline, native royalty gave it a lift within the early Seventies. The principle ones liable for this incident are Queen Maharani Satvashila Devi and her husband, the present King Rajesaheb Khem Sawant VI ), Lieutenant Colonel Shivram Sawant Bhonsale. The royal household additionally arrange a workshop within the palace for hand-drawing and issuing playing cards for the market, which remains to be in use immediately.
Difficulties in buying inputs
Traditionally, Sawanwadi was a vassal state of the highly effective Maratha empire. When the British defeated the Marathas, Savantwadi continued to exist as a small principality with benevolent rulers throughout the British Raj. Positioned within the coronary heart of Sawantwadi, only a stone’s throw from the palace, this former British resident’s house is a testomony to these bygone days. early twentieth centuryth In the course of the twentieth century, Sawanwadi flourished in training and tradition, and its rulers labored onerous to domesticate conventional crafts and artisans.
Lately, nonetheless, deforestation has made the provision of Pongamia wooden troublesome, and mangoes are unsuitable for merchandise requiring lathes. Craftsmen at the moment are turning to Acacia, Shivan (Gmelina Arborea) and Glyricea, however the high quality of the toys has suffered. Glyricicea is especially common regardless of being unhealthy for the surroundings and inflicting rats to invade properties.
lack of expert craftsmen
The grueling nature of the work, the problem of procuring wooden and different inputs, and an unsure market with no assure of earnings commensurate with the trouble, lead many expert craftsmen to depart the trade and select employment elsewhere. Industrialization within the instant space additionally held nice attraction, whereas authorities initiatives to coach younger woodcarving craftsmen have been haphazard at greatest.
Not like up to now, few individuals now carve wooden. Due to this fact, the favored pattern is to fill ready-made molds with sawdust as a substitute of carving toys. This additionally helps scale back prices and isn’t labor intensive. “I I entered this trade within the early Sixties, because of my father, who obtained particular coaching from the well-known grasp craftsman Abha Gawde. Conventional toy making requires loads of persistence, ranging from 5 years in the past. Procurement of appropriate lumber begins, however it will not be till a number of years earlier than work can start.
Rane trains 30 younger individuals yearly in his humble studio-cum-home and is a sought-after craftsman in prestigious tasks throughout India. Speaking concerning the authorities’s cavalier angle in the direction of coaching artisans, Rane advised me, “The minister in cost had recognized the location for establishing Haast Kalakendra and advised me intimately about his imaginative and prescient. However now a month has handed. Greater than years later, plans have but to be finalized.
Unfair competitors and decreased demand
There are different components. Low-cost Chinese language machine-made toys additionally hold customers away from these stunning hand-carved toys, which promote for extra attributable to rising enter prices. Individuals can even really feel a change in style. PD Kanekar and Firm, a well known toy vendor in Sawantwadi, has turned to manufacturing non-traditional toys in recent times. Ankita Kanekar, from the Kanekar household, advised me: “Prior to now, Pongamia wooden has been used to make lifelike vegatables and fruits. However not like the earlier era, Nobody is concerned about taking part in with these now. There are only some villages with panjara timber. Furthermore, it takes a couple of month and a half to make a set, and the rewards are only a few.
She additionally blamed the present transportation infrastructure for the drop in gross sales. “Earlier, the freeway from Mumbai to Pune handed by way of Sawanwadi. However now the freeway surrounds our city.
At present, adjustments in style are evident when individuals browse shops. Imitations of machine-made toys maintain an essential place in contrast with creative depictions of musicians, greengrocers or fishermen in conventional clothes. It is onerous to identify a bunch of bananas or betel nuts.
Lack of presidency help is one other main issue.
Over the past century, the toy trade’s development has been fueled by lively help from the ruling royal household. This help is now not out there. The dearth of a powerful cooperative or guild of toy producers can also be partly accountable. “There isn’t a unity amongst varied sectors of the trade to work collectively to barter with the authorities and demand ensures or protecting subsidies,” lamented a outstanding toymaker who requested anonymity.
Due to this fact, Sawanwadi toys would not have a Geographical Indication (GI) to this point.
mild on the finish of tunnel
As I write this text, toy producers are joyful that Sawantwadi wood toys received the Geographical Indication tag on March 30, 2024. Toy producers like PD Kanekar have began promoting their toys on-line. “We began promoting on-line throughout the pandemic, when every little thing was shut down,” Ankita Kanekar advised me. The Kanekars promote merchandise to consumers throughout India by way of the DirectCreate platform. In any other case, the merchandise are offered to wholesalers in Goa who promote the merchandise to vacationers touring to India. It is because “Savanwadi has not but developed worldwide categorical companies. “
Even so, worldwide vacationers usually come to Sawanwadi to purchase these iconic toys as Goa’s newly opened MOPA airport is simply 15 to 16 kilometers away.
One may positively argue that GIs and the inclusivity they bring about to those superbly handcrafted toys are begin. Nevertheless, extra must be accomplished if these toys are to seize the eye of the worldwide market. Improved categorical supply companies and authorities subsidies to producers may go a good distance.
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