In our childhood, we all love to see and play with dolls. Not only girls but the dolls that are made up of cotton are also liked by everyone. And when this love for dolls becomes your wish to show everyone, it leads to the collection of dolls and finally shown in a museum. And Shankar’s international doll museum is one of them. It is not only famous among children but people of all ages. It is incomparable because of the variety of dolls there from not only India but foreign countries also.
Shankar's International Dolls Museum is a very fascinating place for not only children but adults too. It is named after his creator (late) Keshav Shankar Pillai, who was also a famous political cartoonist. He is known as the father of political cartooning in India, later he closed down the magazine he used to publish during the Emergency of 25 June 1975 from then on, he turned to make children laugh and enjoy life. And today he is most remembered for setting up the Children's Book Trust established in 1957 and Shankar's International Dolls Museum in 1965. Since he was a journalist, is used to travel a lot with the prime minister of India, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru. And this allowed him to collect a large no. of dolls, when this collection reached 500, he chooses to showcase them across the country. This idea of Shankar was liked by Indira Gandhi and then she decided to make a permanent museum for his collection. And as a result, Shankar's International Dolls Museum was ready by 30th November 1965.
As those who have not explored Delhi enough, they think it only contains great food, heritage attractions, and modern rushing life but those who know it have museums like
Shankar’s International Doll Museum on the bahadur shah Jaffar Marg has been there since the time of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. The museum contains six thousand dolls that have been collected from 85 countries. 500 dolls that Shankar collected and begin his journey with our painted through children, later he started holding exhibitions. when he organized an exhibition in Delhi, he was concerned about the damage to dolls while opening and packing during traveling.
These dolls are exchanged with the ones that are gifted to the museum and also put on sale for museums and collectors across the globe. 150 types of Indian costume dolls are created by artisans in museums in workshops.
In countries like Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Romania Norway, Switzerland Yugoslavia, Finland, Netherland, Hungry, France, etc dolls with their traditional dresses and culture are there and they all seem to be colorful with bright faces and detailed expressions.
Not only abroad dolls are there but Indian dolls are also there in which some dolls depict Mahabharata, Krishna Ras Leela, the first person on the moon, and 10 incarnations of Vishnu also and 4 dolls are shown as tutoring how to wear a saree.
Dolls of Bulgaria in this museum are shown as wearing rough cotton clothes with long necks and small eyes similarly in Spain a bull is used for playing cultural games shown in the museum with flamenco dancers. Dolls from Rumania have their specialty of making Santa types dolls with red caps and big eyes, similarly, all dolls of other countries have their specialty in making those dolls, they are all made up with mud and cotton with detailed work. Some depict their cultural dance forms and some depict their old traditional clothes.
These museums also contain 3 school boards which contain articles related to this museum and about their culture. Japan has most no dolls that not only depict their culture but also show their modern side just like France. Their dolls are shown as wearing kimonos, with their ancient lamps and cushions.
The collection of these ancient dolls is very fascinating and precious, as they not only show different kinds of dolls but also ancient houses, animals, and traditions through their clothes, facial expressions, and way of showing and celebrating their festivals for example celebrating Baisakhi a religious festival in Punjab. The way of showing Krishna avatar [incarnation], Mahabharata scene of coming back of lord ram, etc is can’t be described in words. The only thing that can be described is the incomparable insight view of this beautiful and knowledgeable museum.