Active Puppet troupes of Assam

Puppetry once enjoyed great popularity in Assam. Unfortunately, puppetry of Assam has lost its previous glory. The advent of new form of enteratainmen, lack of interest of new generation are some problems, which are responsible for declining of popularity of puppetry in Assam.Puppeteer despite of their poor economic condition, tries to train interested people and promotion of the art form. During interaction with different puppeteers, I came to know that puppeteers have emmense love for puppetry and emotional attachment with the art form. Therefore, the puppeteers want recognition. To preserve any asset, ownership is very important.Because ownership creates feeling of responsibility and encourage to protect the asset. Same objective is lying behind the formation of puppet troupes. Puppeteer applies different techniques and innovations to make his troupe more attractive, which makes the art form more secured. For many puppeteers, Puppetry is their hobby as well as source of income.Therefore, puppeteers form individual troupes. However, presently active puppet troupes are very few in Assam. Due to poverty, some of the puppeteers quit from puppetry to other business for earning their lively hood. Due to the continiuous problems facing by the puppeteers, they decided to form an organization, through which they can raise their voice. The organization is known as “All Assam puppet theatre”.

According to Narayan Deka, a well known puppeteer and president of this organization, there are only fifteen registered puppet troupes in Assam.

They are—

Name of puppet group	Name of owner	Name of location
Assam Puppet Theatre.	Narayan Deka	Makhibaha, Nalbari District
Sagarika Putala Theatre	Manoranjan Roy	Khetri, Kamrup
	Bani Kanta Barman	Mohkhali, Nalbari
Nataraj Putala Theatre	Ranjit Dey	Kalaigaon, Darrang
Rubi Puppet Theatre	Abani Sharma	Bijay Nagar, South Kamrup
Asomi Puppet Theatre	Lankeswar Barman	Makhibaha, Nalbari
Pallabi Puppet Theatre	Dhiren Thakuria	Makhibaha, Nalbari
Maa Bhabani Putala Theatre	Let Krishna Das	Kalaigaon, Darrang
Nabaratna Putala Theatre	Giridhar Senapati	Bhalukmari, Nagaon
Rang Ghar Putala Theatre	Khytish Bora	Nagaon
Bishnu Jyoti Putala Ghar	Purna Bora	Guwahati

Besides these registered puppet troupe under “All Assam Puppet Theatre” there are some unregistered troupes in Assam, which are working very actively.^[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Informant:Narayan Deka,puppeteer,Makhibaha,Nalbari. 7/12/17