Kathputli: A Unique Puppet Making Craft of Rajasthan

Kathputli: A Unique Puppet Making Craft of Rajasthan

Even a small tour of vibrant Rajasthan is enough to leave an array of never-fading memories in the visitors’ minds. The very sight of dancing kathputlies is often one of the strongest among those. Unlike any other styles of craft, which remain still and somewhat lifeless after the creation, Kathputlies remains full of life for viewers.

These puppets encompass small pieces of colorful clothes woven together in a beautiful manner.

The origin of Kathputli goes back to thousands of years when some skillful craftsmen’s voyage to invent a contrary-to-popular way of telling stories ended up creating dolls (putlies) from wood (kath). The artisans then attached kathputlies with thin, nearly impossible-to-see strings to manually control their movements according to the scenes of a storyline. Kathputli dance actually became immensely popular during the reigns of King Vikramaditya. It is said that his throne was embellished with thirty-two attractive puppets.

Nowadays, puppet shows are played by local artists of Rajasthan from all given backgrounds and casts. However, during the medieval times, puppet crafting and playing were used to done primarily by the ‘Bhat’ community. Due to his extreme fondness of puppets, a countless number of puppets shows used to be organized at King Vikramaditya’s court. The first of which had been played using thirty-two puppets depicting the triumphs and greatness of him. Those shows used to be so captivating and mesmerizing that they became a royal way of keeping dignified guests entertained. The custom then gained momentum and the kathputlies shows got rolled down on and on in the successors of kings.

Original Source : https://www.iicd.ac.in/kathputli-a-unique-puppet-making-craft-of-rajasthan/

The making of kathputlies is a thoughtful process. To secure a catchy show in which everything from the story, movement of dolls, their clothes, colours, facial expressions, to the humor-ful voice of the puppeteers bind the attention of the viewers and leave never-ending pleasing memories, a kathputli-maker has to achieve

perfection

in

every

small

detail.

Puppets

to

play

an

angry,

negative-character are usually painted with red with black clothes while the puppets for a queen or princess character are fairly painted with white color, are embellished

with minuscule ornaments, and adorned with ancient-style, red clothes. Overall, kathputlies have to be appealing.

When the beauty and excellent workmanship of kathputlies, caught the eyes of king Prithviraj Chauhan, he requested the Bhats to collocate a few shows, depicting his accomplishments as a great ruler. Down the timeline to the revolutionary moment in the British rule, the freedom fighters used puppets to stream awareness and ignite the feelings of patriotism among the people. However, a big part of this amazing art faced a big downfall during the rule of Mughals.

After the independence, the kathputli art again begun to slowly get out of the slumber. Puppeteers again felt the shine of appreciations and kathputli dance became an exclusive tourist attraction in Rajasthan.

Original Source : https://www.iicd.ac.in/kathputli-a-unique-puppet-making-craft-of-rajasthan/