In spite of the distinct regional identities of these forms and the many languages and dialects in which they are performed, there are similar features: the story materials of the plays, the centrality of a narrator/singer, the need for musical accompaniment and dance, the structure of the performance, the social and economic context of traditional rural artists, the underlying aesthetic shared with other theatre and visual arts genres, the moral content or worldview, and frequent links with religion, which over time have included cults of local divinities, Buddhism, Jainism, Hindu Shaivism and Vaishnavism, and Islam. India has over twenty living traditions of glove puppets, string puppets, rod puppets, and shadow theatre puppetry. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) sees an association of the divine and the puppeteer: Vishwakarma, who is the abstract form of the maker god, is seen as the sutradhara who pulls the strings – the destinies of human beings are in his hands. In classical Sanskrit theatre (100-1000 CE), the sutradhara – literally, the “string ( sutra) holder” – introduced and directed the play, causing some to argue that the term is borrowed from puppetry. The important 19th century German scholar Richard Pischel (1849-1908) highlighted Indian puppetry and argued that India was the source of Western puppet traditions. Tiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet (2nd century BCE) wrote: “the movements of a man who has not a sensitive conscience are like the simulation of life by marionettes moved by strings”.

Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian (4th century BCE), and later Patanjali (2nd century BCE), the author of Yogasutra, each mentioned puppets. The earliest reference to puppetry in India is in the Mahabharata, which reached written form around the 4th century BCE though oral stories themselves date to the 9th century BCE. But when the show was found wanting, Brahma banished the artist to earth as a bhat (Rajasthani puppeteer/entertainer). One legend holds that the creator god Brahma made the first puppet and its performer to entertain his wife Saraswati. In all areas drama, dance, visual design, and music (all needed in puppetry) have been important vehicles of religious propagation as well as entertainment since well before the beginning of the Common Era. Though there is enormous diversity, there are common traits. Puppets, scroll painting narrations, and mask performances are found in many areas. Religious, Social, Literary, and Aesthetic Foundations Today, India has twenty-three official languages (as well as more than one hundred major languages and possibly around sixteen hundred dialects) Hindi and English are the nation’s official languages. India (which up to its independence in 1947 included Pakistan and Bangladesh) was part of the empire of Great Britain from the early 18th century. Four religions originated on the sub-continent: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, and during the first millennium CE, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived, contributing to the region’s diverse culture. Different cultural strains include aboriginal groupings, Dravidian peoples of the south, Indo-Persian groups of the north and north-west, north-east groups who may share characteristics with South East Asians, Tibetan influenced groups of the Himalaya foothills, and modern multi-ethnic groups in the globalized cities of New Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), or Kolkata (Calcutta). The Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya) is a nation in South Asia (seventh largest country by area and the second in population) whose borders have included many kingdoms and ethnic groups over the ages.

Centre for puppetry arts