Leather Puppets – A Languishing Handicraft:Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Leather Puppets – A Languishing Handicraft

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Published in AP Times (Hyderabad) on 21-08-1996

Leather puppetry, an ancient practice of conducting shadow plays using puppets made of leather that existed in India as early as the sixth century B.C is under the threat of joining the ranks of bygone arts if neglected further, according to a documentation report based on a study commissioned by Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation (APHDC) 17 years ago in 1994.

The APHDC with the financial assistance of the Development Commissioner for Handicrafts of Government of India, as part of the revival scheme of old, rare and languishing handicrafts of Andhra Pradesh, commissioned documentation of leather puppetry. Late Bhandaru Parvatala Rao (Former Director Information and Public Relations, Government of Andhra Pradesh) who did the job observed in his report that “It is really an unfortunate thing, that most of the families of ‘Tholubommalatavallu’ or ‘Koyyabommalavallu’, had to divert to other vocations ranging from sale of old clothes to farm labour and at least in few cases resorting to begging”.

A large number of Andhra Puppeteers are of Maratha origin and they (those few who are still in the profession) speak a dialect known as Aare Marathi even to this day. The Aares are of two sections – Rekandar and Vanarasa. The four major families in Aares are Annaparthy, Thota, Aveta and Sindhe. Though Aares are wedded to the joint family system due to professional compulsions, modernisation forced them to seek other vocations leading to break down in the joint family system which lead not only to economic crisis but also to social crisis.

Leather Puppets are made in sizes convenient for display on a screen, the size of which varies from six feet by four feet to ten feet by eight feet in different regions. Temple architecture appears to have influenced the design to a large extent in the past. Later there was Mogul and French influence and of late, the influence of the silver screen.

According to the crafts persons of Leather Puppets making of Nimmalakunta in Ananthapur District, the first stage in the preparation of leather Puppet is to produce the hides (wet skin) of deer or goat soon after it is ripped. The wet skin is dipped in warm water and its inner side is cleaned with knife. The stocky matter and hair are also removed and the hide is cleaned properly and completely. The skin is placed on a gunny mat over a cot and stretched out evenly and tightly on all sides so as not to leave a wrinkle when it dries out. This is done manually by four persons. It is then fixed on the gunny mat and nailed on all sides to keep it in position.

After a day’s drying the skin becomes clear, white and translucent. Two or three such skins for head, for trunks and for limbs are needed to make a required size puppet figure. In the actual making of a puppet, an outline of the figure that is needed is drawn on the straightened skin. The final sketch is made with a sharp chisel causing a groove to mate the line appear distinctly on the screen when displayed. Designing involved careful and orderly perforation of holes according to a set pattern using a set of sharp chisels of various sizes. Punching of holes on the head, body or limbs is taken up next.

The artisan with imagination coupled with a fine sense of colour and design shapes the figure with jewellery and clothing. The separated parts of the figure such as the head, body and limbs are brought together by tying them with a string. This is followed by colouring, which renders the puppet complete and is done only after the puppet is joined together. Colouring in ancient days was done using locally made vegetable colours but later chemical colours were used because of their easy availability. Multi coloured puppets in lighter shades is the order of the day.

Thanks to the advent of colour films and colour TV a piece of cloth rolled into a lump is used to apply colour and another piece of cloth is taken and used to smoothen the colour and make it spread in a uniform tone. Puppets are coloured on both sides so that they can be used in either direction or on either side. The size of the puppets varies and sometimes the same character may also vary in size. Puppeteers prepare the puppet and also play it. They deliver the dialogues and sing songs for the character, which they manipulate from behind the screen. Puppets are zealously guarded from rain and rats and for this they are kept in a box made of bamboos called Ganiyam.

As part of puppet show activities like erection of screen, manipulation from behind the screen, lighting tricks, chorus singing, observing rituals, invocation, sabhavandanam, sutradhari’s prologue and other connected activities need to be done. The puppeteers do not follow any text but draw material from number of sources.

Parvatala Rao observed that there were no schools to train people in leather puppetry and as part of family tradition children get trained by their parents in the art of preparation and manipulation of puppets. Leather Puppet shows are given almost during the entire year except in rainy season.

The puppeteers who enjoyed the patronage of kings and zamindars in good old days were at the mercy of faction-ridden village heads. The Electronic media also became its competitor. Faced with these problems, the younger generations considered it not wise to practice this art. Notwithstanding this, the puppeteers of Nimmalakunta who formed a cooperative society gave performances in Germany and USA which gave them an excellent exposure to the stage craft in developed nations. It also helped them to get excellent publicity indigenously. Slowly that too in later days became a rare activity.

Artisans of Nimmalakunta were of the view that this age old art should also adopt innovations to suit public demand or taste like substituting electric lamp in place of oil lamps during the puppetry show. They also felt the need to diversify the vocation by way of making utility and decorative household articles such as lamp shades. APHDC apart from marketing these puppets through its chain of Lepakshi Handicrafts Emporia, provided assistance to the artisans of Nimmalakunta for constructing house-cum-work sheds. They were also given loans to buy materials like goat hides and colours. It was also observed that the demand for supply of decorative articles made of leather was not fully met.

Parvatala Rao in his documentation report mentioned that though they were still considerable number of active troupes giving performances, leather puppetry was certainly a languishing craft as younger persons were averse to opt to the puppeteers for life. He said that, everyone was vocal about the need to revive the art but precious little was accomplished on the whole for the vocation and suggested for a planned and sustained effort to preserve and promote this ancient art form.

Dr. M. Nagabhushana Sarma in his book Tholu Bommalata recommended for establishing a “National Academy for Puppetry” which can visualise a national policy of retaining, reviving and remodelling the different kinds of puppet theatres in the country to suit the changing circumstances.

As recommended in the documentation report, the APHDC sent at that time a proposal to Government of India and got a scheme sanctioned for revival of the craft. Under this programme, new designs were being developed and also skill development training programme was organized at Nimmalakunta in Ananthapur district.

The efforts of Handicrafts Development Corporation helped the 70 and odd active, 200 and odd occasional Leather Puppetry crafts persons to stay in the family tradition and helping their family members numbering about 1000 to survive. The artisans are also able to market their products through the chain of Lepakshi Emporia besides participating in the Exhibitions organised by Development Commissioner for Handicrafts at national and international level.

However, it still remains as a languishing craft and whether the encouragement being given by APHDC be able to keep the craft live for few more years or not is offcourse anybody’s guess!