Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath set up an exclusive gallery for leather puppetry in 2007 in memory of the Parishath’s former secretary and founder MS Nanjunda Rao, who died in 2003. The gallery with 3,000 puppets is the only such collection in the world according to CKP authorities. The puppets are housed both at the gallery and the folklore museum and have puppets from all over, including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
“Rao would go from one office to another to get funds, grants and volunteers,” says Chiranjiv Singh, former Additional Chief Secretary. “Leather puppetry is surviving in Karnataka because of him.”
Rao collected leather puppets and also documented his collection with the book, Karnatakada Togalu Gombe for posterity, says artist MJ Kamalakshi, General Secretary, CKP. Kamalakshi accompanied Rao on his collection rounds for nearly two decades since the late 1960s.
“I can’t forget how Rao walked to villages near Tumkur where his father Dasappa, as a teacher, was familiar with puppeteers and Harikatha artists. For the last five decades Rao’s endeavour saw him make CKP’s puppet gallery richer for its cultural significance, and its worth by a few millions!” she says.
Rao sourced leather puppets from the-then Hyderabad State, Mysore State and Madras Presidency. Rao personally brought puppets from from Adoni, Madhugiri, Bellary, Ananthapur and Nagamangala.
Karnataka has nearly a dozen styles of puppetry and Togalu Gombeyaata, or leather puppetry is one of them. “Also called shadow puppetry, this is one of the most ancient arts of Karnataka,” says Kamalakshi.
The gallery has been renovated and each of the puppets have an interior reset that ensure a better perspective while viewing. The puppets are framed and there are cards explaining details about the puppets. “Earlier, the leather puppets had side focus lights. Now there is uniform lighting and the puppets with their intricate detailing, can be appreciated better,” says Kamalakshi.
There is a CD with a 45-minute puppet show at the gallery. One can see how the pieces displayed gain a life and momentum. “We realised that people need to know how shadow puppeteers used them in a traditional cultural setting with music,” adds Kamalakshi. The gallery also has dressed-up marionettes.
Shadow puppeteers traditionally use stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but over the years they have drawn from historical personalities, such as Kittur Rani Chenamma, Tipu Sultan and Mahatma Gandhi. Their adept re-constructions of the storyline to suit musical commentaries of leather puppetry make them unique to Karnataka.
These traditional storytellers, who use colourful, leather puppets crafted with their own hands, are facing extinction, as there are just a few families who practise the art.
“There were times when the Mysore State had a 5,000 families practising leather puppetry,” says Kamalakshi. “Today we are left with 250 families who are struggling to make ends meet. They have some pieces at home that comes out for rare shows, but most are agriculturists for survival.”
Some of the rarest pieces at the gallery in CKP are displayed in all their compositional grandeur. “We have the Rukmini-Satyabhama-Krishna set donated by the Bombeyatagara family who performed before kings in the Vijayanagara period,” says Kamalakshi. An annual Nanjunda Rao Award for Art has also been instituted for awarding active art practitioners.
