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Dolls
by Abanindranath
Tagore
We have dolls as playthings for children; marionettes for play-acting
of larger size; life –size, and sometimes larger than life,
caricatures, effigies and clowns. Toy dolls are about span high,
thumb long, and smaller, down to the miniature size.
A Doll
from Bengal
 This is a typical wooden doll found all over
Bengal. It varies in its decorations and colours in different
districts but the form
remains the same.
This particular one was bought in Kenduli in Birbhum district.
The colour of the head, arms and feet is yellow. Upper
garment covering the body below the waist is blue and green.
The
details and decorations of the figure are drawn with black
and red thick
brush lines.
Mr. Nandalal Bose says it is not possible for him to say
when this toy was introduced in Bengal but the back of
this toy resembles
the back of the stone statues of Vishnu and other gods.
He also feels that they somehow look like Egyptian mummy
cases.
Size of the original doll: 10 inches high x 3 inches wide
approx.
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Clay, wood, pith and paper are the materials
of which our dolls are made. Toy dolls are first made in the rough
by the potter or
carpenter, whereupon the decorator steps in to do up the features
and put in the colouring, before they finally find their way to
the shops. The making of idols for worship is much on the same
lines. The potter makes the figure according to tradition, with
dress folds, ornaments, and crown, complete. The decorator then
adds the colouring of body, features and robes, the tinsel halo
and other appurtenances. In the case of the play-acting marionettes,
the carpenter makes the
body and limbs separately, and the play- actor loosely fastens the
| The dresser follows, colouring and
dressing them up, on the eve of the performance, for the parts
they are intended to play. |
limbs to the body with strings, so that they may be moved as required.
The dresser follows, colouring and dressing them up, on the eve of
the performance, for the parts they are intended to play. The animals
and birds that are to come on the stage are designed by the carpenter
on a common pattern, and subsequently made up to suit the occasion…the
addition of mane or stripes, for instance, converting the same dummy
into lion or tiger. This kind of co-operation between the several
artists is made to serve all the purposes of the play.
There
are mainly three kinds of dolls or toys:
 (1) Immobile—such
as a figure of Ganesh, or a fat woman-figure with a stump in place
of legs to be dressed up by the playing child.
 (2)
Partly mobile—such as palm-leaf sepoys with jointed arms and
legs jerked into martial attitudes by strings attached to a bamboo
spring; pith birds and fishes, dangling on strings from a supporting
frame, swaying to the breeze.
 (3)
Toys on wheels—such as clay carts, wooden or metal horses;
etc.
Whistling tin birds or squeaking celluloid babies are beyond the
resources of our toy makers. Our marionettes go through their movements
in obedience to the string-pulling of the play actor and do their
squeaking by proxy through his assistant.
| Our marionettes go through their movements in
obedience to the string-pulling of the play actor and do their
squeaking by proxy through his assistant. |
Our old doll types are no longer to be seen in all
their variety; some have even changed their forms and decorations
to suit modern taste. Some idea of the different kinds of dolls
or toys that were in use may be gathered from our nursery rhymes.
I give a few examples:
 (1)
The Moon Doll: --“Moon on her arms, moons on her feet, a moon
on her forehead doth shine.”
(2) The Car of Thirteen Spires: --“O look
sister, how wonderful! The confectioner over the way has made a
car with thirteen spires, and a monkey holding the banner.”
(3) The Nodding Old Man: --“The aged one’s
head nods and nods, with a myna perched on top.”
(4) Gopal (Krishna): --“Who says Gopal is
flat-faced? I have brought clay from Sukhchar to make a straight
nose for him. Who says Gopal is dark? I have brought turmeric from
Patna to make his complexion shine.”
 (5)
Animals: --“The Shy Cat”, “The Royal Elephant”,
“The Black and White Cats of Shasthi”, etc.
(6) There are the Smiling Doll, the
Jolly Doll, the Merry Doll, the Crying Doll, and other descriptions…the
meanings of which cannot now be traced.
| There are the Smiling Doll, the
Jolly Doll, the Merry Doll, the Crying Doll, and other descriptions…the
meanings of which cannot now be traced. |
 (7)
A Queen Doll made of fire-wood is still to be seen in Kalighat shops.
The following portion of a fairy tale gives us a picture of the
making of a doll queen:
“Four companions were going from one village
to another. Dusk fell while they were passing through a wood before
their journey’s end, and they had to stay the night under
a tree. The carpenter’s son took the first watch. To while
away the time he cut off a branch and carved a woman doll. The decorator’s
son took the second watch. He shaped the eyes and nose, gave golden
colour to the body and rose colour to the palms and soles, and seated
the naked doll under the tree. The weaver’s son took the third
watch and dressed her up, veil and all. The king’s son woke
last, and in the fourth watch chanted a magic spell, learnt from
a holy man, which gave her life; then placing her in a palanquin,
he took her away with him.”
| To him comes a magician, and invokes
a super-human being, tall as a Palmyra tree, with sword to
match, who leads by the hand a beautiful maiden. |
 Kalidasa’s
drama called The Thirty-two Dolls was
evidently intended to be played with marionettes. The stage directions
show that the dialogue had to be rendered by the play actor called
“the speaker”. The king sits on the throne with due
pomp and circumstance.To him comes a magician, and invokes a super-human
being, tall as a Palmyra tree, with sword to match, who leads by
the hand a beautiful maiden.
Gods come on the scene, and engage in a terrific
battle with demons, in the course of which the floor is strewn
with headless trunks, whereupon all the dolls on the stage register
different degrees of alarm; and so on…
 Why
should we not take a leaf out of Kalidasa’s book and have
our own marionette plays even today?
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