Contributed by Lavanya Rohit
Located on the banks of the river Varaha in Vishakhapatnam district of AP, is a small village called Etikoppaka. Etikoppa, which means a group of houses on the bank of a river, is a village of about 12,000 people, mostly farmers. The village is very famous for its toys made of wood. The toys are also called as lacquer toys because of the colours used. Made in the Etikoppaka region of Andhra Pradesh, these toys are made with lacquer color and are traditionally known as Etikoppaka toys or Etikoppaka Bommalu.
Toys are made of soft wood and lacquer color. Coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds,lacquer,roots and leaves. The way of toy making is also known as turned wood lacquer craft. Products coated with lacquer are recognizable by an extremely durable and glossy finish. Lacquer has many uses; some common applications include tableware, musical instruments, fountain pens, jewelry and bows. There are various types of lacquer ware. The cinnabar-red is highly regarded. Lacquer is painted on with a brush and is cured in a warm and humid environment.
Artistic application and decoration of lacquer can be a long process, requiring many hours or days of careful and repetitive layers and drying times. The creation of a single piece of lacquer art, such as a bowl or a fountain pen, may take weeks to months to complete. Lacquer is a very strong adhesive.
The art of making the toys is over 400 years old and has been traditionally handed over to the artisans by their ancestors through generations. From creating mythological figurines resembling those unearthed at the sites of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, the artisans have gone global with a variety of items for the foreign market as well.
They are made from the soft wood of Ankudi Karra (Wrightia tinctoria) tree The toys are painted with natural dyes, which is prepared from seed, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves. The dyes are non-toxic.
For the last 20 years, the artisans have been generating their own raw material. They have been allocated 300 acres of land for the development and regeneration of raw material.
The Geographical Indication Registry (GIR) has given Geographical Indication (GI) tag traditional Etikoppaka toys (Etikoppaka Bommalu) from Andhra Pradesh. With this, Etikoppaka toys join elite products from Andhra Pradesh such as Kondapalli toys, Tirupati laddu, Bobbili Veena, Srikalahasthi Kalamkari, Jamdani sarees and Shadow puppets to have coveted GI tag.
