Under a banyan tree, Chinna Ramaiah is busy drawing the outlines of an image. For Ramaiah who belongs to a family of puppeteers who have been hosting shows for 80 years, this is not new.
His mother Rangamma, says, “My husband’s family has always been into puppet-making. We used to tour villages back in the days, now things have changed.” Now, the family that resides at a village near Anantapur creates leather puppets apart from hosting shows.
In the five minutes that pass, Ramaiah finishes the outline of the entire image. “Leather puppet-making is tough. There are two types of leather used, one is machine-cut and the other is something that we create on our own,” he says. The artist starts with the outline of the image. All the painting, except for a small part of it, is done by using a wooden stick. “One needs to have great control over their hand movements. Apart from puppets, we also create artworks on leather,” he explains.
The puppetry business has the entire family involved. “Everyone knows how to make puppets; Also, since each one handles different characters in our shows, the entire family is involved in the process” adds Rangamma.
Each show lasts for an hour and the stories have all been associated with mythology. “We tell stories like Lanka Dahanam, the story of Sati, Ramayanam, story of Kumbhakarnam and more,” adds Rangamma.
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