Etikoppaka is located in
Visakhapatnam District of
Andhra Pradesh. Fine-grained soft wood is abundantly available in this region and Etikoppaka has an age-old tradition in making toys from this wood.
Women and children pick up the wood from the nearby hills and leave it to dry in the courtyards. Toys are shaped out of this with primitive tools. Lacquering and vegetable dyeing is done on these and the finished products are beautiful toys with a magnificent sheen.
Now the Etikoppaka toys are exported to other Indian states and countries. The village-craftsmen are assisted by individual designers and various university and governmental agencies.
Etikoppaka is on the left bank of the river Varaha, 20 km south of Elamanchili.
