Late R. Kaladevi was an avid collector of dolls. She collected miniatures from across the globe which she bought during her trips and visits. Her collection include miniature plastic dolls (which came with Binaca toothpaste and which were popular as Binaca dolls) to miniature silver dolls and toys. She had an eye for beautiful and tiny trinkets. Her collection grew over the years and spilt from one to two showcases then over onto TV Cabinet and further into showcases of her children’s rooms. This collection started sometime in the year 1963 just after her wedding to Sri D. Ram Singh and she moved from her maternal home at Hyderabad to her own home at Mysore. This lasted until her demise in the year 2019.
Ramsons Kala Pratishtana organised an exhibition of traditional dolls of India ‘Bombe Mane’ for the first time. This exhibition became popular and grew over years. Every year, Bombe Mane had special diorama section in which it displayed varied doll traditions from across the country with special themes and subjects. Over years, these dioramas became elaborate and people waited to see what would be the special displays each year. These dioramas were only for one year and stored away to make way for new dioramas. Such stored away dolls had to be brought out and displayed at some point.
After the death of R. Kaladevi who is one of the founder trustees of Ramsons Kala Pratishtana, its Secretary, Sri R.G. Singh (son of R. Kaladevi) thought of establishing a doll museum honouring the memory of his mother (since she collected miniature dolls). He decided to open the Kaladevi Doll Museum in the year 2020 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ramsons Handicrafts (which was established by his father Sri D. Ram Singh in the year 1970).
This museum has around 5,000 dolls collected and also specially commissioned from traditional doll artisans from across India. It also has dolls that have been designed by the design team of Ramsons Kala Pratishtana. Dolls from Karnataka (Kinhala and Channapatna), Maharashtra (Kolhapur), Tamil Nadu (Cuddalore, Mayavaram, Tanjavur, Panruti and Viluppuram), Pondicherry, Telangana (Cherial and Nirmal), Andhra Pradesh (Srikalahasti, Etikoppaka, Bobbili and Kondapalli), Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi, Lucknow and Saranath), West Bengal (Kolkata and Krishnanagar), Odisha (Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Raghurajpur), Rajasthan (Jaipur and Jodhpur), Kerala (Kasargod) and Bihar (Madhubani and Mithila).
The piece-de-resistance is the 500 and odd dolls diorama which is a replica of the 1939 Dasara Jumboo Savari procession that happened in Mysore and which has been immortalised in 26 oil on canvas panels in the Karikallu Thotti pavilion in the Mysore Palace.
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