Ratha panel of Shiva-Parvati wedding. Picture by Pabitra Das

Two remarkable exhibitions on the folk arts of Bengal have opened, respectively, at the State Archaeological Museum, next to the Behala tram depot, and at the Gurusaday Museum in Joka. The first highlights the wood carvings of undivided Bengal. The second is on the dolls and toys of the same region before it was split asunder.

Though many are not aware of it, Bengal was once known for the art of wood carving. Few specimens of these treasures have survived the combined onslaught of white ants and the high level of humidity. But some fine specimens can be seen in a chandimandap at Aatpur, and in the city itself in Sobharam Basak Street, where the full figure of a man is preserved in the puja room.

This show affords the opportunity to see some wonderful wood carvings mostly belonging to the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and three tiny pieces from Chandraketugarh ? two tall and anorexic women, elaborately-coiffured, and a minnow (in terms of size) with a glinting eye.

There are some beautifully painted panels from rathas or chariots depicting Radha and Krishna, Durga, a figure half Shiva and half Krishna, and a pot-bellied Shiva getting married to Parvati. The large figures are stunning in their beauty though they do not conform to classical canons. One of these is the seated charioteer who could have been imported from Egypt ? so formal is his posture. Radha and Krishna are present as flesh-and-blood entities and as stylised forms, too. A Krishna figure has the name of the craftsman carved on the pedestal. One can never be in doubt of the sexuality of Hindu deities, and it is easy to imagine how Christian missionaries had reacted to such frank depictions of unmentionables.

Sections of the chariots vividly depict Krishnalila and episodes from Ramayana and the undulating elephant trunk with a tiny man playing the flute at its tip. There are several musicians and the remarkable portrait of a man with eyes that talk. The explanatory notes accompanying each exhibit, however, could have been more detailed, particularly when it came to describing sections of the chariots. One would have liked to see more photos taken by Tarapada Santra, who wrote a book on wood carvings.

The second exhibition, Puttalika, is not as beautifully mounted as the first, but it is outstanding, for it shows the amazing range of playthings once available in ruraI Bengal. Apart from sunbaked clay and terracotta, a variety of materials such as lacquer was used to produce the exhibits from Circa 1st and 2nd to 20th century. They were gathered from Midnapore, Birbhum, Coomilla, Khulna and Chittagong. The majority of the figures depict the mother and child, some of them very similar to the ones discovered in the Indus Valley. There are, besides, horses on wheels and elephants that are offered to folk deities. Whistles and rattles, a paper pulp Gauranga and birds and ducks and bulls and puppets add to the charm of the exhibits. The first exhibition is on till December 3, the second till November 30.