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

Northeast Now

www.nenow.in

Visit Our website