What makes Vilachery Dolls special? | The Hindu
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- The festive season from Janmashtami, through Ganesh Chaturthi till Navaratri is a busy time for doll-makers all over the country. Particularly for the artisans in Vilachery in Madurai. These terracotta idols are very famous.
This traditional doll-making practice goes back to 1965 and awaits a Geographical Indication tag.
Sadasiva Velar and Suran Velar, along with Thangaraman Velar are the first ones who started making the Vilachery dolls. They were traditional artisans from families of Velars who are a community of potters.
They used to make and sell terracotta horses which were offered by people to Ayyanar temples on the periphery of villages as part of ‘puravi eduppu’ or horse procession
Over the years, these dolls became popular and today they provide a livelihood for 150 families in Vilachery.
These dolls are traditionally made with clay using elephant dung as fibre for binding.
The artisans say that the dolls are made throughout the year, in stages. Casting of dolls is mostly done between January and March.
Making the most of the summer heat, basic layers of paint are coated until July.
Finally finishing touches are given as sales begin in August-September.
About 100 clay dolls would be crafted in a day and readied in a kiln. Most artisans make dolls measuring up to 1.5 feet in clay. Dolls that are more than 2 feet tall are made of Papier-mâché. These are light-weight and are easy to export.
The idols range from as low as ₹10 for a two-inch vegetable figurine with fine details to 10-foot Vinayagar idols priced at ₹50,000.
While these toys have been hand-sculpted and hand-moulded for all these years, the artisans are hoping to bring in machines into the mix.
Right from extracting soil from the Vilachery Kanmoi, using cranes for transportation, constructing a common facility centre to store the raw materials and setting up electric kilns to dry the dolls, machines will amplify the production.
Some artisans are also keen on using computer assisted designing to make the toys. This will help them have stand-alone showrooms in major cities and eliminate the middlemen.
They are looking to set up a cluster of 25 companies to enable this modernisation initiative. A ₹4-crore grant was approved recently under the State’s Micro Cluster Development Scheme.
This will make the sale and production of Vilachery idols throughout the year. It will also help revive the interest of youngsters who have left the family line of business.
The Vilachery artisans have very loyal customers. They return to purchase from the same makers every year. Some even bring their old idols to get them repainted.
The dolls from Vilachery reach the shelves of Khadi Kraft and Poompuhar showrooms across the State as well as cross seas to decorate kolu stands in the US, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.
Dasavatharam set, Ashtalakshmi a wedding set along with the idols of Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Durga are very popular and are a quintessential purchase.
Apart from this, animals, birds, fruits, vegetables, occasions, and idols of other Gods and Goddesses are also sold.
These artisans also make idols for nativity scenes which are displayed in December for Christmas.
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#navaratri #vilacherydolls
Wow. Very beautiful dolls. Surely buy some pieces for my house when I visit Madurai❤️
Truly God Gifted
Beautiful 💚💚💚
The amount of detailing is awesome! 👏👏👏
Marvelous 👍🙏🏿
Good.
Beautiful
The great noval work 🙏
Very nice....
Jai Shivshakti 🙏 Jai Mata Di 🙏 Jai Maa Navdurga 🙏 Jai Sabke Malik Shri Sitaram 🙏 Jai Siyaram Bhakt Anjani Nandan Pawanputra Shri Sankatmochan Bhagwan 🙏🤲🌻🌺🌄🌅🌙⭐✨☀️
Very nice
A very beautiful dolls
Aatmanirbhar bharat
There are 27 states and 8 UT's in India apart from Tamil Nadu ,If The Hindu claims that it represent whole india than it should also cover the news of other states national or regional news ,apart from Tamil Nadu...
I hope you have the same attitude towards the centre govt. And so called National media
_____/LO____. koti koti pranams !