Channapattana - Land of Wooden Toys

Route : Bangalore --> Channapattana(~60km)

Transport : Train, Auto 

Date of journey : 3 Jan 2018

It was around 12pm in the noon, I was cleaning my Cupboard. I accidentally found a wooden toy, which I bought during my last visit to Channapattana. It was a cube puzzle toy, While I started to solve this puzzle, I started to wonder how these toys are being manufactured. Without thinking much, I decided to visit Channnapattana to see how these toys are being made. I was happy to find frequent trains to Channapattana in IRCTC app and the next train was at 1:30pm. I decided to catch up this train and this is how I turned my day into a blog.

On the way to Channapattana

About Channapattana : 

Located in Ramanagara district. The place is well known as "Gombegala Ooru" in kannada, which means "Town of Toys".

The train(Malgudi express) took 1.15hr and I reached Channapattana at 3pm.  Soon after getting down from the train, I searched for a nearby hotel to have Lunch.

After having lunch in a near by hotel, I started having chat with hotel cashier and asked him about  any toy making factory nearby. He suggested to walk on one of the local streets, where I can find the toy factory.

Toy Factory - Sri Beereshwara arts and crafts

Luckily, after walking around 900mts,  I found an old toy factory, which used to manufacture wooden toys using traditional techniques. As soon as I entered the factory, one of the worker welcomed me, saying "Namaskara" in Kannada.

While I was stunned to see the process of toy making, the old worker Manjunath asked me, "You come here to buy only toys or you have any specific queries to ask ?"

Toy factory

"I come here to understand the complete process of making the toy, right from the raw wood", I replied.

And our conversation continued,

Me: What kind of wood is used for making these toys?

Manjunath : The wood used for making toys is the Dhoodi Wood or Hale mara, which is white in colour. This wood is very soft in nature and very easy to carve.

Me: How the toys are colored? Do you use any chemicals? 

Manjunath : The toys are colored using vegetable dyes and we polish them using high abrasive grass. A total environment friendly setup is used to make these toys.

Tools used for making toys

Me: Is there any history for toy making?
Manjunath : Yes. Back in 18th century, Tipu Sultan was gifted a lacquered-wood toy made in Persia. Tippu was very much impressed by craftsmanship of the toy, and asked for artisans from Persia to be brought in and train locals to make such wooden toys. Artisans who learnt the craft settled in Channapatna, And thus the town’s association with toys began.

Process of painting

Haale mara plant

Old tree pieces, ready to make toys

After witnessing the complete process of toy making, I visited their store which was located besides their factory.

The toys were so beautiful that I could not resist myself in buying toys for my loved ones.

Wood Key chain 

Adisu nodu Bilisu nodu gombe

My collection of wooden toys

If you want to witness the beautiful process of  making wooden toys, please do visit Channapattana. I would say, these are the best  toys that you can get for yourself/ friends/ family in Karnataka.