250-Year-Old Traditional Toy Festival Struggles For Survival In Odisha

Berhampur: With sophisticated plastic and unbreakable toys flooding the markets everywhere, 250-year-old tradition of Kandhei Yatra in Odisha’s Berhampur struggles to keep the clay toys and other hand-made dolls alive. Traditional toy makers also struggle with unwavering dedication and perseverance. But the show lives on and the traditional clay toys withstand the competition. However, wooden toys skipped the show this year.

The traditional Kandhei Yatra which is held every year on the full moon day night of Sravana Purnima and being held just few days after Rath Yatra, was held at Khaspa Sahi here despite rain on July 21 evening to July 22 morning. Cultural programmes including Bhajan Samaroha and Nabaranga Gahani were organised by ‘Ama Sanskruti Ama Parampara’ committee during the yatra period to keep the celebrations alive throughout the night.

About 100 makeshift shops on both sides of Khaspa Street from Bada Bazar to Nrusinghanath temple at a stretch of about 400 meters opened up. Only 2 shops were selling hand-made clay toys and there were more than 50 shops dealing with plastic toys. The interesting part of this Yatra is that all the eleven temples in Khaspa Street including Sri Jagannath, Nrusinghanath, Narayan, Jagigosain Chaitanya Math remain open throughout the night during the yatra. All the deities including Sri Jagannath were decorated with hand-made toys. Budhi Thakurani is adorned as Maa Annapurna.

When the number of traditional toy makers from the city are dwindling, the horn craft artisans from Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district have stopped visiting Kandhei Yatra since last 25 years and the wooden toys artisans from adjoining Andhra Pradesh stop reach this yatra to sell off their creations. However, the local toy makers, unfazed by the onslaught of time and lack of patronage in producing hand-made toys, still chugs on to keep the art alive.

The hand-made sweets from sugar in the shape of animals like elephants, horse, tiger and others have vanished from the yatra venue since the last 20 years. The tradition of exchanging sweets between friends and relatives among the local residents has stopped, said Tripati Nayak, a researcher and a cultural critic of the Silk City.

Although the festival has been celebrated for more than 250 years, there is no historical evidence of its origin. It is connected to the return of Lord Jagannath to his abode at the end of the Rath Yatra. The Maharaja of Mahuri encouraged the clay toy makers to produce toys during earlier days to display idols made of clay, cow dung and saw dust. A priest of Jagannath temple had requested the erstwhile Maharaja of Mahuri to start the Kandhei Yatra, said Tripati Nayak.

During earlier days the vendors used to sing aloud in Odia “Nia nia niare bhai, Mahuri raija kandhei ehi, Budha tharu pua, Budhi tharu jhia, sabhinka manaku nie bhandei” (Oh brother! take these toys of Mahuri estate…from old men to little boys, from old women to little girls, these toys allure all and sundry).

The process of making clay toys is very simple. The craftsmen collect the suitable clay, cow dung, powder of the tamarind seed, ‘khadi’ stone and wheat flour. They make a paste of it with appropriate proportions and make the toys in a very traditional style with their hands. Dry and colour it with much perfection. “We were using natural colours in these toys about three decades ago. But as the rate of the natural colour hiked, we are now using water colours to make these toys more attractive”, said a craftsman from Ainabandha Sahi. But the hand-made eco-friendly dolls find few takers and we are lagging behind both financially and socially, he said.