Rajasthani Puppet - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kathputli is a string puppet theatre, native to Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and is the most popular form of Indian puppetry. Being a string marionette

Marionette

A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...

, it is controlled by a single string that passes from the top of the puppet over the puppeteers.

Etymology

Kathputli is a join of two rajasthani language

Rajasthani language

Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...

words Kath meaning wood and Putli meaning puppet. Kathputli means a puppet which is made entirely from wood. However it is made out of wood, cotton cloth and metal wire.

History

Some scholars believe Kathputli art tradition is more than thousands years old. One finds its reference in Rajasthani folk tales, ballads and sometimes even in folk songs. The tribes of Rajasthan have been performing this art from the ancient times and it has become an eternal part of Rajasthani culture and tradition. No village fair, no religious festival and no social gathering in Rajasthan can be complete without the Kathputlis. It is believed that somewhere 1500 years ago, tribal Rajasthani Bhat community started the use of Kathputli as string marionette art and it is in their love for tradition that art of Kathputli survived the test of time. Tradition of Kathputli is based on folk tales and stories. Scholars believe that folk tales convey the lifestyle of ancient Rajasthani tribal people and Kathputli art might have originated from present day Nagaur and surrounding areas. Rajasthani Kings and nobles were patrons of Art and Craft and they encouraged the craftsmen in activities ranging from wood and marble carving to weaving, pottery and painting. Over the last 500 years, Kathputli was a system of patronage supported by kings and well-off families. The patrons would look after the artists in return for the artists singing praises of the patrons’ ancestors. Bhat community claim that their ancestors had performed for royal families, and received great honour and prestige from the rulers of Rajasthan.

Today Kathputli art is one of the most popular performing arts of Rajasthan after Ghoomar

Ghoomar

Ghoomar is a traditional women's folk dance of Rajasthan, India which was developed by the Bhil tribe and was adopted by other Rajasthani communities...

. Organisations like Rupayan Sansthan in Jodhpur

Jodhpur

Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...

founded by Vijaydan Detha

Vijaydan Detha

Vijaydan Detha also known as Bijji is a noted writer from Rajasthan and a recipient of Padma Shri award. He is also recipient of several other awards such as Sahitya Akademi Award and Sahitya Chudamani Award....

and Komal Kothari

Komal Kothari

Komal Kothari , commonly known as Komalda, was an Indian folklorist and ethnomusicologist from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. A pioneer in the study of Indian folkore, he is most known for his work on the folklore of Rajasthan and its links to Music of Rajasthan and its instruments...

in 1960 and Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal

Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal

Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal is a cultural institution based in Udaipur in Rajasthan state in India engaged in studying folk art, culture, songs and festivals of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and to popularise and propagate folk arts, folk dances and folk literature. It was set up in 1952 by...

, Udaipur

Udaipur

Udaipur , also known as the City of Lakes, is a city, a Municipal Council and the administrative headquarters of the Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is located southwest of the state capital, Jaipur, west of Kota, and northeast from Ahmedabad...

, founded by Devilal Samar in 1952, are working in the field preserving and promoting the art of Kathputli, the latter even has a puppet theater as well as puppet museum. Capital New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

also has an area known as 'Kathputli Colony', in Shadipur Depot

Shadipur Depot

Shadipur Depot is a residential and industrial area in West Delhi, named after nearby Shadipur settlement. This is also a depot for the Delhi Transport Corporation...

, where puppeteers, magicians, acrobats, dancers and musicians and other itinerant performance groups have settled since half a century.

Overview

Characteristic to this form are the shrill voices produced by the lead puppeteer which are spoken through a bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

reed

Reed (instrument)

A reed is a thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a musical instrument. The reeds of most Woodwind instruments are made from Arundo donax or synthetic material; tuned reeds are made of metal or synthetics.-Single reeds:Single reeds are used on the mouthpieces of clarinets...

. The art of Rajasthani puppetry (also called Kathputli) originated a thousand years ago when the Bhat community began to practice this art. Patronised by many ruling families in the state, it soon grew into a major art form of the region. Due to the invasion

Invasion

An invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...

of Rajasthan

Rajasthan

by the Mughals, Kathputli gradually lost its importance. It has been one of the oldest forms of entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

. Historically, these puppets were not only a source of entertainment, but also provided moral and social education. The shows tackled problems like the dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

system, women's empowerment, illiteracy, poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

, unemployment

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

, and cleanliness

Cleanliness

Cleanliness is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state.Cleanliness may be endowed with a moral quality, as indicated by the aphorism "cleanliness is next to godliness," and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals...

. These puppet shows made people aware of the social problems that everybody was facing and also showed ways of solving them.

Benefits of Kathputli Puppetry as a learning medium for kids

It provides children opportunity for verbal expression.
It helps in developing creative temperament.
It encourages and develops team work capabilities in children.
It can be used to develop relevant voice modulation.
It help in developing emotional behavior.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Etymology

History

Overview

Benefits of Kathputli Puppetry as a learning medium for kids

See also

Further reading

External links