Junyali – The First Musical Doll of Uttarakhand

Dolls are the favorite gift for every girl child out there. This doll you see is the Pahadi Musical Doll. This doll was handcrafted by the artisans of Uttarakhand to depict the culture, costume, and tradition of Pahadis.

This doll you see here is a musical doll and has music that you can play. The little doll twirls to the tunes of the Garhwali and Kumaoni songs that are played because of the machine that is fitted inside it. The wings that you see embedded in this doll shine even without light and glow up in dark. Its eyes are big and the shine in its eyes is what attracts young girls towards itself. The doll is dressed up in the traditional attire of Uttarakhand and thus has elements such as Ghaghra, Gulaband, Pichoda, Talkha, Koti, Pahari Topi, Ghilda, Tokari, etc. in its attire.

The doll is one of a kind. It acts as a symbolic representation of the women of Uttarakhand and plays a vital role in teaching the kids of today about the Garhwali and the Kumaoni people and regions of Uttarakhand.

With technology moving ahead rapidly, the children of today are inclined more towards mobile phones and other devices that they don’t want to listen to the stories of their ancestors or hear of their courage and their beautiful and handcrafted art. The handcrafted art of Uttarakhand is a precious gift that is passed to this generation from their fathers and their forefathers. Handcrafted art is what gives them their daily source of living and livelihood. But, with the advent of other things children are forgetting their culture daily. Along with this, extinction is seen in the number of people choosing handcrafted items. People are preferring plastic items over handcrafted items that initially leads to pollution and contamination of the environment.

Uttarakhand Haat is a platform that aims to bridge the gap between the artisans of Uttarakhand and its buyers. It also has a vision of conserving the environment and making it clean and better for living. We prevent handcrafted art from extinction. Let us all join hands and come together to save this art from extinction.