Puppetry in India (d): Shadow puppet

Shadow puppet is different from other three forms of puppets. Shadow puppet is the oldest form of puppetry. Shadow puppet is prevalent in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharastra, Odisha and Tamilnadu. Shadow puppets are prepared from the hide of animals and dyed in different colours. Bright source of light is kept behind a translucent screen, than puppets are kept between the source of light and the screen, and make them act. The act of puppet reflects on screen. The prominent shadow puppet shows of India are-Ravan Chhaya from Odisha and Toalpava Kuthu of Kerala. The Ravan Chayya puppets are curved out on hides of deer, mountain goats and sheep. Ravana Chayya does not possess joints in their body. The size of this kind of puppet is minimum 20 centimeters, maximum is of 60 centimeters and they are translucent. Stories are adapted from Oriya version of the Ramayana known as “Vichitra Ramayana” by Vishvanath Khuntia.

Toalpava Kuthu, is the traditional shadow puppets of Kerala. This form of puppet is dedicated to Goddess Bhagavathi.Tholapavi Koothu enacts stories of Tamil Ramayana and Sanskrit plays.

The famous Shadow puppet tradition of Andhra Pradesh is called Tolu Bommalatta. The main attraction of this kind of puppet is human size figure with many joints. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata is the main source of story.

The puppet show of Karnataka is called “Todale Gombeatta”, which has similarity with shadow puppets of Andhra Pradesh. For story to enact they rely on the Ramayana, the Bhagawat Purana and folk tales of the region.

In all types of shadow puppets, music plays an important role.