Kinhal Toys

Kinhal Toys is a unique craft used to make wooden toys. Kinhal is thematic and culturally a rich craft of hand painted wooden articles. The artists mainly paint these wooden crafts on themes, gods and goddesses of Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Kinhal woodcraft is presently done in and around Kinhal village in Koppal district of Karnataka. The name of the art form is derived from this taluk called ‘Kinhal’. The craftsman of Kinhal have drawn inspiration from the murals of Lepakshi temple in Andhra Pradesh and from Pampatheswara temple at Hampi in Karnataka. The distinctiveness of Kinhal toys lies in it being a folk or village craft and it creates local and rural employment and livelihood. This art is about 500 years old. It is purely a folk / village art form, where the toys are made by hand out of soft and light wood.