| Chadar Badar | |
|---|---|
| Medium | Wooden puppets |
| Types | Puppetry |
| Originating culture | Santhal |
Chadar Badar, also known as Santhal Puppetry, is a tribal performing art of the Santhal people, [1] mainly found in the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Assam. [2] [3] Once a dying art form, it was revived by the efforts of social activists such as Ravi Dwivedi and exponents like Sukan Mardi [2] and Daman Murmu. [4] The Government of west Bengal has set up a National Puppet Museum at Kankurgachi to preserve the art forms of puppetry including Chadar Badar. [5]
Chadar Badar is performed with the assistance of wooden puppets hung inside a wooden box, open on three or four sides with curtains. The performer narrates stories by words and verse from ancient Santhal culture using the puppets, accompanied by tribal musical instruments. [4] The painted puppets are 5 to 9 inches tall and has movable limbs, manipulated by the performer, using strings attached to them. [3] [6]
The manipulation of the devil stick is a form of gyroscopic juggling or equilibristics, consisting of manipulating one stick between one or two other sticks held one in each hand. The baton is lifted, struck, or stroked by the two control sticks, stabilizing the baton through gyroscopic motion.
Santali, Bengali: সাঁওতালী, Odia: ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ, Devanagari: सान्ताली, also known as Santal, is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal. It is a recognised regional language of India per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.
The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and Assam. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They have a sizeable population in Nepal. The Santals speak Santali, the most widely spoken Munda languages of Austro-asiatic language family.
Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during the period of the Bhakti movement. It is sometimes simply called "Aata" or āṭa. This theatre style is mainly found in coastal regions of Karnataka in various forms. Towards the south from Dakshina Kannada to Kasaragod of Tulu Nadu region, the form of Yakshagana is called Thenku thittu and towards the north from Udupi up to Uttara Kannada it is called Badaga thittu. Both of these forms are equally played all over the region.(Not sure about this one but) Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn. Its stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain and other ancient Indic traditions.
Rajmahal is a subdivisional town and a notified area in Rajmahal subdivision of the Sahebganj district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated at the banks of Ganges and was former capital of Bengal Subah under Mughal governor, Man Singh I.
The Santhal rebellion, was a rebellion in present-day Jharkhand and West Bengal, Eastern India against both the British East India Company (BEIC) and zamindari system by the Santhal. It started on June 30, 1855 and on November 10, 1855, martial law was proclaimed by the East India Company which lasted until January 3, 1856 when martial law was suspended and the rebellion was eventually suppressed by the Presidency armies. The rebellion was led by the four sibling Brothers - Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairav.
Kathputli is a string puppet theatre, native to Rajasthan, India, and is the most popular form of Indian puppetry. Being a string marionette, it is controlled by a single string that passes it from the top of the puppet over the puppeteers.
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex.
Sasirekha Parinayam is an Indian folktale based on oral traditions popular in Telugu States. While it uses characters who appear in the Mahabharata, the story is not present in the epic. The plot concerns the marriage of Sasirekha, called Vatsala in some versions, the daughter of Balarama, to Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna. It echoes the marriage of Arjuna to Subhadra in the Mahabharata.
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) is an Indian cultural institution which runs a school for music, dance and performing arts in New Delhi. It was founded by Sumitra Charat Ram in 1952, and imparts training in Indian classical dance styles and music, including Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Chhau, Hindustani Classical music, both Vocal and Instrumental. Its associated organisation is the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts at Safdar Hasmi Marg, in the Mandi House area, the cultural hub of Delhi, the centre includes a theater for the performing arts, a theatre repertory company and an acting school.
The Puppeteers Cooperative is an association of puppeteers, musicians, dancers, and singers, working to form community bonds through the medium of puppets, parades, and pageants. It is an extremely loose affiliation - there is no membership as such, so that people are sometimes surprised to find themselves belonging to the group without having joined it.
Tehran International Puppet Theatre Festival (est.1989) or Mobarak International Puppet Theater Festival occurs in Tehran, Iran, about every two years. It features puppetry acts from around the world. Event organizers include Rahmatollah Mehrabi and Ardeshir Salehpour.
Kogga Devanna Kamath was an Indian artist who specialised in Yakshagana puppetry.
K. V. Ramesh is an Indian puppeteer, specialising in performances based on Yakshagana art. He most often performs in the Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka and Kerala. He leads the Yakshagana puppet troupe Shri Gopalakrishna Yakshagana Gombeyata Sangha, based out of Kasaragod.
The ottu is a double reed wind instrument, used in Carnatic music of Southern India to provide a drone accompaniment to the similar nadaswaram oboe. Like the nadaswaram, the ottu is a large conical instrument, some two and a half feet long. Unlike the nadaswaram, the ottu has no fingerholes, being intended to produce one constant note while playing. It is provided with several small tuning holes which can be stopped with wax to modify its note. In some cases, a shruti box may be used in place of the ottu due to its steadier sound. The player holds the instrument in their left hand, sustaining the sound by inhaling through their nose, and with the right hand, beats on a drum strapped onto a belt.
Rabana Chhaya is a form of shadow puppetry from the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
Utpal K. Banerjee is an Indian writer, adviser on management and information technology and a former director of the New Delhi-based Forum for Information Technology for India. After graduating in Pure Physics with honours from the University of Calcutta in 1955, he studied at the University of Manchester on a Commonwealth scholarship to secure his doctoral degree (PhD) in 1972. He worked in various positions in a number of Government of India agencies before holding positions in the corporate sector such as those of the Chief of Management Services at Tata Steel, the director of Computer Division at the Administrative Staff College of India, the senior executive director at Electronics India and the director general of the All India Management Association.
The Indian state, West Bengal has a rich and cultural heritage. Due to the reign of many different rulers in the past, arts and crafts in West Bengal underwent many changes giving an artistic diversity today in the forms of traditional handicrafts, terracotta, painting and carving, dances and music.
Gopalila also called as Krishnalila is a traditional form of itinerant glove - puppet theatre of Odisha state. The art of Gopalila is mainly concentrated in the coastal district includes, Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara, Ganjam and Dhenkanal. Gopa refers to the "cowherd boys" in associated with the life of lord Krishna and Lila means "play". The puppeteers are Gopals belongs to the caste of cowherds. In religious occasions, especially Janmastami and Govardhan Puja, the puppeteers performed to entertain local villagers. Puppets are made of wood and paper and their bodies are padded with cloth. The lower half being covered with a long skirt. In southern Odisha, the puppets have legs which touch the ground; but in the north Odisha, the puppets are without legs.
