Introduction

Assam is one of the northeastern states of India.It is bounded on the north by Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan,on the east by Manipur and Nagaland, on the west by Bangladesh and Meghalaya and on the south by Tripura and Mizoram. Assam is multi-cultured, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethenic state. Each ethnic group has its own cultural identity.Greater Assamese culture is the outcome of the process of the synthesis of different cultural practices of the tribes, and communities reside in Assam.Assam has a rich tradition of folk dramas.Puppetry,Kamrupia Dhulia,Ojapali,Khulia Bhaona, Bharigan, Kushangan, Mohoho, Palagan etc.are folk dramas of Assam and these glorious traditions are still being preserved by the communities generation after generation.These folk dramas are rooted to the rural Assamese culture and society.It is noteable that Puppetry is popular in most part of the world and has played an important role in disseminating knowledge.Puppetry imbibes elements of all art forms such as literature, painting, sculpture,narratives, dance,drama and enables different groups of people of the society to develop their moral values and most importantly to develop their creative abilities. It is one of the most ancient and powerful way of communicating and connecting with the people. Apart from its function of entertain audience,puppetry express rich and vibrant cultural legacy of the land.

Puppetry is performed in different corners of Assam. However, present active troupes are found in Marigaon and Nagaon of middle Assam and Kamrup, Nalbari and Darrang district of lower Assam. Once puppetry was very popular performing art in satras (monasteries) of upper Assam. Puppet troupes of Shri Shri Natun Kamalabari satra and Shri Shri Auniati satra of Majuli, Shri Shri Bar Elengi satra of Titabar, Shri Shri Jarabari satra of Sibsagar were very popular.Besides the troupes of satra arena,some other puppet troupes were also there in Merapani of Golaghat, Duliajan, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh district. It is unfortunate that at present there are not any information of prevailing puppetry tradition in upper Assam. During my visit to satras of Majuli in 2010,I found an active puppet troupe in Shri Shri Auniati satra.I had a long discussion with members of that puppet troupe.The name of the puppet troupe was “Shri Shri Gobinda Putala Abhinay Samiti”.At the end of the discussion I realized that puppet troupe was struggling for survival.I faced same experience in Shri Shri Natun Kamalabari satra.The Satradhikar told me that there was lack of interested people who could continue and took care of the puppet troupe. Due to which the puppet troupe lost its charm and one day it disappeared from the Satra.The members of the puppet troupe show me their puppets,which were totaly decrepit.

In 2012, for second time I visited the satras of Majuli and came to know that puppetry became a dying art form of the satras of Majuli, including Shri Shri Auniati satra. All of the puppeteer I met during field work had opinion that emergence of technologically sound tools of entertainment are solely responsible for decreasing popularity of puppetry.

In India, four basic types of Puppets are found.They are-

1. String Puppet.
2. Glove Puppet.
3. Rod Puppet.
4. Shadow Puppet.

String Puppets are prevalent in Assam, Karnataka, Maharastra, Manipur, Tripura, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu and West Bengal.

Rod Puppets are found in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

Glove Puppets are found in Odisha and Kerala.

Shadow puppets are found in Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamilnadu.

General objective of the research:

In Assam, the methodological study of puppetry is very few. By taking this point in view to study the puppetry, the proposed study has decided to take in hand.

Specific aims and objective:

1. To study the present status of puppetry and people involved in puppetry.

2. To establish it as tool of communication.

3. To study different techniques of presentation of puppetry.

4. To find out the relationship of puppetry with different traditional theatres of Assam.

5. To make a comparetive study of puppet tradition of Assam with puppet tradition of other states of India.

6. To study the changes and continuity in Puppetry.

Significance of the study

Assam has a rich tradition of the art of puppetry. However, the present situation of puppetry is very depressing. The art of puppetry has close relation with Assamese culture and society.Once performance of puppetry was indespinsible in almost all social and ritual functions of Assamese villages. For most of the puppeteers, puppetry was both passion and profession.Unfortunately most of the puppeteers have given up performing. Old puppeteers are dying and their next generation or family members are interested in other profit making profession. Culture is not static. It is a dynamic aspect of society and changes from time to time with new factors. The art of puppetry has an important place in Assamese culture.However present condition of this art form in Assam is not very satisfactory. Growing popularity of new form of entertainment, new media of communication and economic backwardness of the puppeteers are responsible for degeneration of popularity of Puppetry in Assam. Puppetry has been facing tough competition from cinema, video game, television etc. The stiff competition has been forcing the puppeteers to bringing some changes to their shows. Some puppet groups are replacing traditional string puppets by rod puppets to add new flavor to their shows.It is very necessary to understand the causes of the problems facing by the puppeteers.

Identity of a state or country heavily depends on its folk cultural elements. Therefore, government as well common people should take initiative for revival of folk dramas, which are in very dangerous position. However, before we take any step to solve the problems related to puppetry we must deeply aware about the problems. Extensive and methodological field study may bring the problems into focus.I have choosen this topic to find out the problems facing by the art of puppetry in Assam.Through the research I would like to contribute in reviving the glory of the art of puppetry in Assam which will be useful for further research and also for the puppeteers of new generarion.

Review of the Literature:

Although Assam has a rich tradition of puppetry, the availability of literature on puppetry is limited. There are no any such books on puppetry of Assam, which contains every aspects of this art form.Few essays on puppetry are scattered in some compilations of essays, magazines and bulletins in Assamese language. However, there are many books on Indian puppetry. Adequate research papers and essays are available on different aspects of Indian puppetry in internet.

The most important book on puppetry of Assam is ‘Puppetry in Assam Past and Present’ (1999),written by Dr.Birendranath Datta.This book include history of puppetry in Assam, presentation style of puppetry, brief description of present condition of puppeteer and problems facing by the puppeteer. According to him, puppet shows were once a very popular entertainment and communication medium in rural Assam.But it lost its charm among people with the edvent of new media of entertainment such as television, cinema and mobile theatres. This book helped me in different phase of my research.””

Dr.Sailen Bharali has included a chapter on folk dramas of Assam in his book ‘Asamiya Lokanatya Parampora’. In that essay, Dr.Bharali has described the history and manner of presentation of puppetry. He says that due to failure of puppetry in coping with changing taste of modern people, it lost its previous glory.

Dr. Pradip Baruah’s book “Chitra Bichitra Assam” is a valueable book of Assam’s culture, history,geography and biodiversity. In this book Pradip Boruah has included a well described essay on puppetry of Assam. He has mentioned puppetry as a folk drama. According to him, puppetry is dance and music based folk drama. Description of the techniques of presentation of puppetry and puppet making process is also included in this chapter.In the ending part he mentioned that a recent research find out that water puppetry of Vietnam was originated from “Jal putli”of upper Assam. However, at present there are no evidence of water puppetry in Assam.

“Asamar Lokanatya’ (1991) is a book authored by Ram Goswami. In this book, Ram Goswami has extensively discussed about the importance of folk art forms for spreading messages. He has pointed out that puppeteers of new generation are incorporating changes to their performances to attract more audience.

Author Bhrigumohan Goswami has included a chapter on puppetry of Assam namely “Kamrupat Putalanach” in his book ‘Sanskriti aru Loka Sanskriti’.In this chapter he has decribed about origin of puppetry, techniques of presentation of puppetry and present condition of puppetry.The information were very helpful for me during my research.

Jiwan Pani in his book “Living Dolls,Story of Indian Puppets’ (1986) says

“Puppets are actors though not human beings.Nor are they merely bits of woods and rogs.Just as mask is considered as the other being.Since it is endowed with such extraordinary life of its own,it can carry drama to heights beyond the reach of human actors.”

Puppets are expert actor and it can lift up drama to such a point,which is not possible for human actor.

In his book “Sattriya Sanskritir Swarnarekha’ (1984) Narayan Chandra Goswami, Sattradhikar of Shri Shri Notun Kamalabari Satra has discussed elaborately about the Sattriya culture. Along with other performing art prevalent in Satras, he has briefly mentioned that puppetry is a very ancient performing art and Notun Kamalabari Satra of Majuli has the tradition of puppetry. Puppetry is known as Putala bhaona in Satras of upper Assam. However presently there are not even any single puppet troupe in Majuli.

Shampa Ghosh and Utpal Kr. Banerjee have elaborately discussed about Puppptery in their book “Indian Puppet” ( 2006). This book contains variety of Indian puppets, their multiple functions, their craft, and animations along with their connections with other related arts. In this book also writers explain that puppeteers of new generation are bringing some changes to their shows for attracting audience. It is the calling of time.

Dr. Kanak Chandra Saharia has edited the book “Darangi Loka Git Sangrah” (2005). A brief discussion about folk songs used in puppetry and collection of some songs used in Putalanach of Darrang district are included in this book.

Dr. Suresh Awasthi, a noted scholar of folk and traditional theatre of India has included a chapter namely “Puppets and Puppets Performances” in his book ‘Performance Tradition in India’ (2001). This chapter is a comprehensive account of various forms of puppets practised in different corners of India. This chapter goes on to discuss the rise and fall of the puppets down to the multi-faceted progress of the modern theatre after independence and I also got a broader view of present reality of puppetry in different states of India.According to him puppetry tradition has declined in India and many of them are in the point of extinction. In some states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh thousands of puppets have been sold to tourists, museums and research workers, and in both these states, thousands of puppeteers have given up performing and employed themselves in other profession. Old puppeteers are dying and younger members in the family are taking more lucrative professions.According to him telelevsion can play a vital role in popularizing puppetry. But in India it has not shown interst in using puppetry both for educational and entertainment programme. In connetion to this Dr.Awasthi says that several Europian countries are exploiting full potential of puppetry for educational and entertainment programme.

Durga Das Mukhopadhyaya in her book ‘Folk Arts and Social Communication’ (1994), says that–

“As the demand of new trends of technologies in the field of entertainment, there is a possibility that this art might get disappear soon. So we should support and appreciate this art so that, it can also be further appreciated by our coming generations, and they will feel themselves somewhere close to society.This will be a gift for our coming generation from us. For that we should make them realize the importance of growth in life and benefits they would achieve.In India,since time immemorial,there has been an interaction between the folk and elite tradition and this process is going on.”

The author express her fear that puppetry may disappeare due to growing interest of people on new inventions.Therefore support and appreciation is must to protect this art form.

Puppetry as well as other folk performing arts are heritage for a country. Countries like Japan, Hungary etc. are trying to promote their folk tourism through folk performing art.Which helps in preserving performing arts also. In his article “Between Preservation and Tourism:Folk Performing Arts in Contemporary Japan” Hiroyuki Hashimoto says that Japan’s Folk Performing arts have long been considered as important properties that must be preserved.In this article he says the Railway ministry and related organizations publish various kind of travel guides covering festivals, performing arts,customs and manners, hot springs and scenic spots located along each railway line. Although the main aim of the concerned department is to promote tourism of the country,they are simultenoiusly contributing in preserving folk performing art also.India can also take such measures to protect folk performing arts,which are in the path of dying.

Besides that, articles of magazines, research journal etc.were very useful source of literature on the art of puppetry. The internet was also most important source of data about history of puppetry.

Methods of research:

The research work is based on extensive field study. For students of social science field itself is the laboratory. I have visited almost all the possible places of Assam from where I could collect data about puppetry. Visiting of those places helped to evaluate present status, potentiality problems and prospects of puppetry. I have used both secondary and primary data.For primary data, observation methods were used along with interview method. I have collected secondary datas from various books, scholarly articles, journals, magazines, newspapers and internet. Interview of puppeteers were taken to know the present status of puppetry and changing trend in puppetry, techniques of manipulation of puppets.

Besides puppetry, I observed different folk theatres of Assam so that I can trace out the relation of puppetry with other forms of folk theatres prevalent in Assam. During my field study, I took relevant photographs with due permission of the performers.I used tape recorder whenever I felt it necessary. Internet was one of the very important source of information and I have used some photographs of puppet and other folk dramas from the internet. I have visited different libraries of Assam for data collection.Krishna Kanta Handique Library of Gauhati University,Departmental library of Folklore Research Department of Gauhati university, District library of Guwahati,District library of Jorhat are noteable among them.