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Puppetry in Jaipur: Cultural Change in Rajasthan, Part One
| Article
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17147 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1990 |
1,835 Words |
| Author
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Christi Ann Merrill
Christi Ann Merrill is a free-lance writer and teacher
residing in New York City. |
"My grandfather was puppeteer and his grandfather a puppeteer before him," says Sitaram Bhatt from his hut in Kathputli Basti (Puppet Colony), an improvised artists' shantytown in the slums of Jaipur. "We would go from village to village all over the state and around the country. Sometimes it was Rajasthan, sometimes it was Uttar Pradesh, Bihar. We would arrive in the village and announce, 'Gather tonight for the puppet show! Come and watch!' and everyone would come. Some brought us lentils, some brought us rice. My grandmother, grandfather, and all the children would travel by cart and water buffalo, carrying our belongings. Then we came to the city, sold our water buffalo, and have stayed here ever since."
Sitaram's family was probably drawn to this prosperous capital by the impact tourism had on Jaipur's economy in the 1960s. The puppeteers quickly learned that there was great profit to be made performing for bedazzled foreigners - whose strong currency made them generous with the local rupee.
At first, the puppeteers performed the same show in five-star hotels and private gardens that they had played in the villages all over Rajasthan: Amar Singh Rathor ka Khel (The Play of Amar Singh Rathor). Yet the foreigners little understood the court battles and historical bouts enacted before them; the stories of enemies and lovers were as incomprehensible as the words themselves. Soon the show became abbreviated, an excuse to showcase the puppets the puppeteers wished to sell. Where the grand court scene had been a long procession of puppet musicians, jugglers, magicians, and court dancers performing for the puppet king and queen - as well as the village audience - it has come to resemble nothing more than a gaudy
... (1977 of 10232 Characters)
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