e-book – series

(for free circulation)

Museums

DOLLS MUSEUM
New Delhi

By

Tamarapu Sampath Kumaran

Southern News Bureau

59, 1st Main Road, Besant Nagar
CHENNAI – 600090 - India
About the Author:

Mr T Sampath Kumaran is a freelance writer. He regularly contributes articles on

Management, Business, Ancient Temples, and Temple Architecture to many leading
Dailies and Magazines.

His articles are, popular in “The Young World section” of THE HINDU
His e-books and articles on Hindu deities, Festivals, Nature, and different cultures of
people around the world are educative and of special interest to the young.

He was associated in the production of two Documentary films on Nava Tirupathi

Temples, and Tirukkurungudi Temple in Tamilnadu.

These e-book series are being presented, since reference books seem to be losing
patronage among the younger generation. The internet, which has crept into study rooms,
is slowly showing the encyclopedia and reference books borrowed from libraries their
way out. Students consider the internet a worthy alternative.
Museum:
The English word "museum" comes from the Greek - Mouseion, which denotes a place
or temple dedicated to the Muses, the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts.

Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment.
There are tens of thousands of museums all over the world

Locations depicting ruins can also be considered as Museums. The oldest are The Indus
Valley Civilization- 3300–1700 BCE.

The term civilization also designates the complex of cultural elements that first appeared
in human history between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago. At that time, on the basis of
agriculture, stock-raising, and metallurgy, intensive occupational specialization began to
appear in the river valleys. Such characteristics originally emerged in several different

parts of the prehistoric world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, central Asia. The
Chinese Shrines, and the Egyptian monuments as well the preserved accounts of drawing
written on cave walls by cave men and natives and the remains in Pompeii, where the
people that died there due to volcanic eruptions are frozen and viewed by the public, like
the tombs of the mummies, are other examples.

Like any institution dedicated to the memorialization of the past, museums play a
substantial role in the construction of ideologies and identities, which is accomplished
through a variety of means, in which the past is put on public display.

The modern museums are collections of the findings of other people’s civilizations.

Of the modern museums the British Museum in London established in 1753 with the
acquisition of Sir Hans Sloane’s collection of antiquities and art is claimed to be the
oldest museum in the world. It contains over four million exhibits, which include
archeological items, prints, drawings, natural history artifacts, coins, sculptures and other
treasures. Museums can be a great source of information about cultures and history.

Museums cover the knowledge of history and its relevance to the present and future.
Some cover specialized curatorial aspects of history or a particular locality; others are
more general. Such museums contain a wide range of objects, including documents,
artifacts of all kinds, art, archaeological objects.

Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and
make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or
temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and
more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. A museum
normally houses a core collection of important selected objects in its field.

The first publicly owned museum in Europe was the Amerbach-Cabinet in Basel,
originally a private collection sold to the city in 1661 and public since 1671 (now
Kunstmuseum Basel)

There are many types of museums, from very large collections in major cities, covering
many of the categories of fine arts, applied arts, craft, archaeology, anthropology and
ethnology, history, cultural history, military history, science, technology. These artifacts
have been carefully excavated and transported, often thousands of miles, without damage.

Besides there are other categories which include:, children's museums, natural history,
numismatics, botanical and zoological gardens and philately.

An Art museum, also known as an art gallery, is a space for the exhibition of art, usually
visual art, paintings, illustrations, and sculpture. Collections of drawings and old master
prints are often not displayed on the walls, but kept in a print room. There may be
collections of applied art, including ceramics, metalwork, furniture, artist's books and
other types of object.

Science museums and technology centers revolve around scientific marvels and their
history. To explain complicated inventions, a combination of demonstrations, interactive
programs and thought-provoking media are used. Some museums may have exhibits on
topics such as computers, aviation, railway museums, physics, astronomy, and the animal
kingdom. Science museums, in particular, may consist of planetaria, or large theatre
usually built around a dome. Museums may have IMAX feature films, which may
provide 3-D viewing or higher quality picture. As a result, IMAX content provides a
more immersive experience for people of all ages

Although zoos are not often thought of as museums, they are considered "living
museums". They exist for the same purpose as other museums: to educate, inspire action,
study.

Museums in India

India has one of the richest treasures as far as precious artifacts and antiques are
concerned. The country is the birthplace of two of the oldest civilizations, namely,
Harappa and Mohenjo daro as well as several ancient dynasties having one of the largest
and richest collection of invaluable relics, excavated remains and other artifacts that
belong to the earliest royal families and rulers. In order to preserve these priceless
possessions, there are several museums that exist throughout the country. The Museums
in India are considered as preservers of national heritage.

Though there are numerous museums in India, the leading museums are Salar Jung
museum in Hyderabad, National Museum and Birla House in New Delhi, the Bombay
Natural History Society and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum in Mumbai,
Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in Bangalore, and Dolls Museum,
New Delhi.

Dolls:

Dolls have been around since the dawn of human civilization, and have been fashioned
from a vast array of materials, ranging from stone, clay, wood, bone, cloth and paper, to
porcelain, china, rubber and plastic. A doll is generally an object that represents a baby or
other human being, and also includes likenesses of animals and imaginary creatures.

It is found that dolls have been a part of human imagination. Sometimes votive figures,
sometimes toys, they survived fashion trends through the ages, pleasing all those who
cherished and still cherish them.

Dolls gained the French name of “poupee” (doll), which probably comes from the Latin
words “puppa” or “pupa”. Although it is difficult to define the doll's origin, a few ancient
objects coming of Antiquity tell us that dolls were part of Greeks and Romans lives at this
era.
Most of the time, the dolls were religious objects. Some of the dolls were found laid
down with mummies in burial places. Dolls were also found dedicated to God, in Greek
and Egyptian temples. In India they are dedicated to be blessed with off springs. . In
ancient times, dolls were used as representations of a deity, and played a central role in
religious ceremonies and rituals.

From primitive to more elaborate forms, depending on the society from which they came,
dolls have left behind them traces of a quiet happiness typical of childhood play. Thus,
we invariably find them associated to the everyday life of little girls or collected by rich
heirs, princes and other nobility.
For the little child, the everyday actions of dressing, feeding or do the hair of her doll is
the perfect occasion to prepare for her role as a mother. It is found that during
Renaissance, girls of royal court learned with their dolls the strict codes of court etiquette.

While dolls have traditionally been toys for children, they are also collected by adults, for
their nostalgic value, beauty, historical importance or financial value. Each period of
history reveals a lot of things on who played with the dolls, who made them, who
collected them. Dolls have always been created as folk art in cultures around the globe

Porcelain dolls from Germany have always been a favorite of collectors. Although made
in Germany, they are referred to as China dolls, perhaps because porcelain was invented
by the Chinese. The dolls were highly prized for their almond eyes and bow mouths and
later, their cherub-like baby faces.

Doll making is a major commercial industry, and there are hand made dolls as well
machine made ones. Quite a few brands are popular throughout the world.

Dolls Museum, New Delhi:

Housed in the Children’s Book Trust building Shankar’s International Dolls Museum, Set
up by the renowned political cartoonist, K Shankar Pillai, has one of the largest and best
collections of costume dolls anywhere in the world.

The founding idea behind the Museum of all nationalities sharing one roof was to
promote peace and harmony among the people around the world.
The museum is divided into two halves, one section displays exhibits from European
countries, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Commonwealth of Independent States,
other Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India.

The museum started with a thousand dolls. Between 1965 and 1987 another 5,000 were
added – a vast majority coming as gifts. Today the volume has increased to 6,500 exhibits
from almost 85 countries, truly giving it an international character. There are also special
displays besides a representative collection from the over 150 kinds of authentic Indian
costume dolls made at the dolls workshop attached to the museum.

In the Dolls Workshop each doll is handcrafted after meticulous research into the physical
attributes, dress and jewellery of individual characters. Indian dolls made at the workshop
are exchanged for gifts received from abroad as well as sold to collectors and museums in
India and abroad

In the pageant are characters from India’s unique classical dance, Kathakali, with its
splendid costumes. Other dolls of special interest are Boys and Girls Festival dolls from

Japan, replica Dolls of the Queen’s collection (UK), Maypole Dance from Hungary,
Kabuki and Samurai dolls from Japan, Flamenco dancers from Spain, Women’s Orchestra
from Thailand, and Kandy Pehara from Sri Lanka.
The highlights of the costume dolls are ones that have come from Rajasthan, Kashmir
and Kerala, a 250-year-old doll from Switzerland, Maypole dancers of Hungary,
Flamenco dancers of Spain; the Kabuki dancer of Japan, a scene from the Ramayana

imported from Thailand, Bridal pairs of Indonesia, Kandy

Perahera Festival of Sri Lanka and many more. There are also
special displays on themes such as Man on the Moon,
Gandhiji's Dandi March, A Kathakali Stage and others.
Dressed in their respective regional costumes, the dolls represent the social life, culture,
climate and folklore of the region or place they come from. Thus, the museum can aptly
be described as the confluence or meeting place of various acculturations and social life
of the world. Of all the exhibits, nearly one-third of the total number of dolls belongs to
different parts of our country showcasing India's vast and varied social life and tradition.

The prime attraction of the museum is the Doll Workshop. Here one can see a lot of
people working to make a doll look absolutely perfect. Not only are they exchanged for
foreign dolls, it is also sold to the tourists. Representing the cultures of various countries,
the dolls are truly representative of a world with in harmony.

Acknowledgement: Courtesy – Google.com and the authorities of the Museum for use of some of the
photographs for this e-book.