The ancient art form of leather puppetry is on the brink of extinction, even as the number of puppeteers residing on the banks of Buckingham Canal in Madhavapatnam gram panchayat near Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, has dwindled owing to an unprecedented change in their religious profile.
These puppeteers, who migrated from Maharashtra, settled in Madhavapatnam panchayat in Godavari region, nearly 5 km from Kakinada city. In the 1980s, Telugu actress Jamuna helped them get house sites in the panchayat where at least 300 families currently reside. A majority of them embraced another faith and subsequently quit puppetry which is purely based on Hindu mythological stories.
“At present, nearly 60 performers are left in the field of puppetry, More than 50% of those 300 families have adopted another faith. As a consequence, scores of performers quit puppetry. The last remaining 60 performers have been formed into five troupes, each comprising at least three to five women,” says Thota Balakrishna, one of the leading performers in the Godavari region.
