The vanishing tribe of Andhra’s leather-based puppeteers

The traditional artwork type of leather-based puppetry is getting ready to extinction, even because the variety of puppeteers residing on the banks of Buckingham Canal in Madhavapatnam gram panchayat close to Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, has dwindled owing to an unprecedented change of their spiritual profile.

These puppeteers, who migrated from Maharashtra, settled in Madhavapatnam panchayat in Godavari area, almost 5 km from Kakinada metropolis. Within the 1980s, Telugu actress Jamuna helped them get home websites within the panchayat the place a minimum of 300 households at the moment reside. A majority of them embraced one other religion and subsequently give up puppetry which is only primarily based on Hindu mythological tales.

“At current, almost 60 performers are left within the subject of puppetry, Greater than 50% of these 300 households have adopted one other religion. As a consequence, scores of performers give up puppetry. The final remaining 60 performers have been fashioned into 5 troupes, every comprising a minimum of three to 5 ladies,” says Thota Balakrishna, one of many main performers within the Godavari area.

Practically 100 extra households have settled in Peddapuram, Karapa, Mandapeta and Konaseema in erstwhile East Godavari district. Within the erstwhile West Godavari district, there will not be lower than 10 households however they lead a nomadic life-style.

“The performers are anticipated to recite tales extracted from Hindu mythological texts similar to Ramayana and Mahabharata. Such a requisite would possibly lead many who’ve embraced one other religion to give up the sector,” provides Mr.Balakrishna.

In Rajiv Nagar underneath Madhavapatnam panchayat, puppeteers in one other settlement are going through an analogous predicament.

“Our troupe has carried out lower than 10 reveals because the COVID-19 restrictions had been eased. How can any household that depends upon puppetry survive? Many people are actually begging on the streets as we’re left with no choice to earn a livelihood,” says 34-year-old puppeteer Anaparthi Raju, who sells used garments on a two-wheeler.

“The younger artistes are managing to search out some or the opposite work. However the older ones who devoted their lives to selling this historic artwork are actually reeling underneath psychological shock within the absence of any performances. They don’t have anything to cheer about when their puppets are mendacity idle,” provides Raju, a second-generation puppeteer. His father, Anaparthy Subba Rao, is 70 and out of enterprise.

A resident of Rajiv Nagar, Mr.Subba Rao groomed variety of puppet artistes in Andhra Pradesh and carried out throughout India. However since final 12 months, the All India Radio has stopped telecasting recordings of Mr.Subba Rao’s troupe.

The influence of latest and digital media in addition to an absence of patronage by the general public are components which have pushed the lives of the puppeteers into penury, forcing them to scout for various livelihood choices.

Muted voices

The puppeteers carry out performs primarily based on 25 core themes in Hindu mythology. All of them require about 24 ladies to lend feminine voices to the characters in these performs. The phrases need to be memorised because the script shouldn’t be obtainable with them in written format anyplace.

“Right now, we’ve got lower than a dozen ladies performers who’ve mastered most of the performs. Anaparthi Janardhanamma, at 90 years, is the oldest ladies performer alive however she shouldn’t be energetic these days,” says Mr.Balakrishna.

Anaparthi Prabhavathi, Anaparthi Tirupatamma, Anaparthi Pallalamma and Thota Rajeswari are among the many ladies stalwarts in leather-based puppetry in Kakinada district who’ve famously lent their voice to the mythological characters of Sita, Draupadi, Satyabhama, Rukmini, Yashoda and Subhadra. In 2021 alone, two distinguished ladies performers —Thota Satyanarayamma and Thota Kusalamma — handed away.

At the least 10 beginner ladies performers function back-up within the absence of the common feminine troupe member.

Girl puppeteer Vodimenu Nookaratnam, who’s in her 50s, says: “I learnt puppetry from my father. I’ve two kids however that they had no real interest in pursuing puppetry. No woman or married girl is keen to study puppetry because it has no scope for livelihood.”

In recent times, a gaggle of youths had been groomed in leather-based puppetry underneath a programme funded by the State authorities. Nevertheless, none of them pursued puppetry significantly.

Gradual loss of life of craft

There are 4 puppeteers who craft puppets with goat pores and skin within the panchayat — Anaparthi Subba Rao, Thota Edukondalu, Thota Annavaram and Thota Balu. Nevertheless, they too discover it tough to get orders for brand spanking new puppets. Puppets of assorted characters are crafted on goat pores and skin and painted with pure colors. Their lifespan extends to a number of a long time till it’s uncovered to the weather.

Thota Nagalakshmi, one other girl puppeteer, laments, “We aren’t capable of persuade younger ladies and men to study the artwork as the longer term is bleak. In all probability, we’re the final technology to have an affiliation with puppetry within the Godavari area.”

Experiment with challenges

The puppeteers have rewritten their performs to accommodate extra modern themes that swimsuit authorities programmes. “The content material for numerous State and Central authorities schemes has been written to swimsuit the tone of promotion. The length has additionally been decreased to half an hour. However authorities assignments come hardly ever,” says a puppeteer of Madhavapatnam.

As per the normal format of puppetry, the efficiency takes place all through the night time, regardless of the play. The identical format is adhered to if the efficiency is staged on the temples in Simhachalam and Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh. The federal government assignments are pretty distributed among the many troupes so that every of them will get a possibility to carry out.

In recent times, the puppeteers have undertaken experiments to carry out ornamental puppets to maintain the craft alive and discover the market. Among the many lovely creations on which the puppet motifs are painted is the lampshade, however this experiment is but to search out consideration in market. In Anantapur district, the puppeteers have already tapped the marketplace for their craft.