Folk artistes rediscovering self esteem in Telangana

Government pension boosts morale, but payment is irregular

On revival path: The koyya bommalata or wooden string puppetry artistes proudly displaying their puppets to Guruji Ravinder Sharma at Kala Ashram in Adilabad.

Folk artistes in Telangana are rediscovering their footing and role in the society, if one were to believe octogenarian Mothe Yadagiri and his 17-year-old grandson Raghu, the eldest and youngest members of the Koyya bommalata or Chekka bommalata - wooden string puppetry troupe from Burugupeta in Bhupalpalli Jayashankar district.

“There is no more the erosion of our self esteem as society seems to be accepting us for what we are,” the elder and his 82-year-old brother Ramaswamy nodded their heads as Raghu made the observation.

The 10-member Mothe family troupe, which was in Adilabad to perform during the Ugadi mitra milan at Kala Ashram, has four youngsters belonging to its third generation who are practising the traditional livelihood and the lone youth from the fourth generation is learning the art of puppetry. This is proof enough to understand that the traditional folk art is on the path of revival after a long gap of about four decades.

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Chekka bommalata is a form of puppetry through which the artistes entertained and informed the masses mainly about episodes in epics. The Burugupeta family’s repertoire consists of 16 plays depicting various episodes from Ramayana and other mythological tales.

Almost all the folk artistes belong to the SC communities, the Chekka bommalata vallu hailing from Beda Budiga Jangam community. Until just a few years back, the society had looked down upon these castes branding them as ‘parasitic’ communities and even shunned their art, according to some members of the troupe.

This had resulted in the folk artistes falling on bad times what with the society finding the art not worth its time. “Patronage dwindled and we were left wondering if our traditional means of livelihood will be enough to earn a decent living,” recalled Mothe Shankar, the eldest of Yadagiri's grandson.

Though their morale had sagged considerably, there was no other go for the artiste family and hence it stuck to the traditional profession. “We used to visit villages and stage our puppetry by charging gate fee,” recalled Mothe Chandram, son of Yadagiri.

Telangana movement

“We even had to quit this about six years ago but the Telangana movement infused life into our art,” his wife Sayamma added. “As the movement hinged on Telangana culture and tradition people felt proud to be associated with local folk art accepting it as their own form of art,” Shankar explained.

After formation of the State, the Government started giving a decent pension amount of ₹ 1,500 to artistes which further boosted their morale. “Nevertheless, it is not being given regularly,” complained Ramaswamy evoking smiles all around.