KATHPUTLI PUPPETRY

Description

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Context: A once vibrant community of puppeteers and folk artistes from Kathputli Colony, which now resides at a transit camp in Anand Parbat, was dealt another blow after a fire razed 24 shanties and damaged 20 others.

About Kathputli:

It is a string puppet theatre, native to Rajasthan.
It is the most popular form of Indian puppetry.
Being a string marionette, it is controlled by a single string that passes it from the top of the puppet over the puppeteers.
Kathputli means a puppet that is made entirely from wood. However, it is made out of wood, cotton cloth and metal wire.
Kathputli art tradition is more than thousands of years old.
The tradition of Kathputli is based on folk tales and stories.
Scholars believe that folk tales convey the lifestyle of ancient Rajasthani tribal people.
Characteristic of this form are the shrill voices produced by the lead puppeteer which are spoken through a bamboo reed.