Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is making all efforts to preserve and promote the ancient folk art of puppetry in the state
He recently donated Rs. 2 lakh to the founder of Ranghar Puppet Theatre Khitish Bora to help him in continuing in preserving and promoting puppetry and enthrall the audiences with this wonderful and traditional form of performing art
Sarma hoped that this small assistance from the State Government would help in the promotion and dissemination of this ancient craft
Puppetry is a form of traditional theatre where inanimate objects called puppets , operated by people called puppeteers, are used to narrate stories to the audience
The puppeteers use strings to make the puppets do the action sequences and the dialogues are often read backstage by narrators who remain hidden from the audience
Puppetry, which once enjoyed great popularity in Assam, is now on the verge of extinction but some puppet troupes like Ranghar Puppet Theatre are making all efforts to preserve this ancient folk art
Known as putola naas, puppetry was earlier used to showcase mythological sagas and local folk tales to the audience
Assamese social reformer Srimanta Sankardev used puppetry as an art form to spread his teachings to the people
He used the term tatak-tatak-natak to indicate puppet shows and tatakiya bajikar to indicate showman or puppeteer
As per reports, puppets are typically crafted from sholapith and the wood of the madar tree in lower Assam while dried bamboo roots and the wood of the gamar tree are used for making puppets in upper Assam