Puppetry in India (b): Rod puppet

Rod puppets are very interesting forms of puppet. They are cut out figures with moveable parts tacked to sticks. Rod puppets are cntrolled by wooden,metal or bone sticks from below the stage. Rod puppet is very simple to made and manipulate.In India,Rod puppets are centred in Jharkhand,Odisha and West Bengal. Tamilnadu and Karnataka have one unique form of puppet tradition, which is the composition of string and rod puppet. With the purpose of bringing some change in their shows, modern puppet troupes of Assam uses both Rod puppet and String puppet.Puppet troupes of Surajit Academy,Sagarika Puppet Theatre,Bishnujyoti Putala Ghar are some modern puppet troupes of Assam,which employs both rod and string puppets in their shows.

Rod puppets of West Bengal are called Putul-nach. Putul means puppet and nach means dance. Story of Behula–Lakhindar, serpent goddess Manasha, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata is the main source of theme of this type of puppets play. The heights of puppets are about 60 centimeters. Rod puppets are decorated with costumes similar to Jatra.Jatra is most famous folk theatre of West Bengal.Loud orchestral music is the important feature of putul nach.

Rod puppet show of Odisha are known as Kathikandhei-nach (rod doll dance).The height of Kathikandhei puppets are 12 to 18 inches.

“Puppets are 12 to 18 inches in height and puppeteers perform sitting manipulating the puppets from below.”^[1]

Stories from the Ramayana and goddess Durga is performed by rod puppets of Odisha.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

ibid p:43