From
the Publisher
Puppetry originated in India and travelled
across the seven seas to the Eastern and Western
world as vouched by many scholars. Puppets dated
back to a period well before Bharata's Natya
Shastra and have continued unabated throughout the
centuries in almost all Indian states. Puppetry is
one enduring form, which has entertained masses
and educated people. The famous puppeteers of
Rajasthan are really acrobats, who only put on
puppet shows when they move out of villages. These
and a thousand other scintillating facts come out
of this exciting book for the reader's
entertainment and elucidation. Puppets are by no
means for only children- as the puppeteers of
Orissa sing and dance about the romantic love of
Radha and Krishna, and Keralan puppets narrate
Kathakali stories in the same make-up and
costumes.
The book aims at giving a connected account of
the children of the Indian puppets: their variety,
their multiple functions, their craft, their
animation and their connections with other related
arts in five separate parts. The book also
contains- for the first time in any book on
puppetry-four important appendices: Museums in
India containing puppets, Directory of Indian
Puppeteers, Global Bibliography on Puppeteers and
a relevant Glossary. The world of Indian puppets
is seen in vivid colors with scores of colored
photographs and many line drawings and half tone
pictures- in their many sided splendor: variety of
the glove, rod, string, shadow, and human puppets
and a myriad background stories of the
puppet-masters and their imaginative landscape of
free creativity.
Author
Description
Sampa Ghosh joined Calcutta Puppet
Theatre (CPT) under Suresh Dutta in 1980. She
received scholarship for Young Workers in
Different Cultural Fields from Ministry of
culture, Government of India, for puppetry in
1982-85 and participated in more than 2000 shows
all over India and Bangladesh as a member of CPT
up to 1986. She worked at SRC Puppet Repertory as
its Director in 1986-87 and directed four puppet
plays, which proved very popular. She participated
in Indian Manifestation Festival in Sweden in 1987
as the group leader, performing 42 shows all over
Sweden. She conducted many puppet workshops in
India and Canada especially for children and
teachers. She directed two children productions
and gave a lecture demonstration on Indian puppets
to international group of puppeteers under the
aegis of Kala Bharati and Quebec Puppeteers
Association of Canada in Montreal in 1995. As as
outstanding artist, she received Senior Fellowship
from Government of India in 2001-03 for creating a
website portal on Indian Puppetry. Her recent
monograph on Make Your Own Puppets has been highly
applauded.
Dr. Utpal K. Banerjee, an adviser on
Management and Information Technology for nearly
thirty years, has an abiding interest in Indian
art and culture. He has been National Project
Director for Indira Gandhi National centre for the
Arts (IGNCA) relating to the UNDP project on
Multimedia Database for Art and Culture
Documentation and Computerisa-tion from 1990-92.
He has been utilized by Indian Council for
Cultural Relations (ICCR) to lecture on Indian Art
and Culture in Canada in 1990 and in South America
in 1998. He has also given similar lectures in
Canada and USA in 1992 and 1995, as invited by
Kala Bharati of Canada. He has been lecturing on
Indian Arts and Culture in the training courses at
the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) to the
Afro-Asian diplomats. His comprehensive book
Indian Performing Arts has gone into several
editions and Bengali Theatre: 200 Years has come
out from publication Division. He has been writing
on the arts and culture in India Perspective,
Sruti, Rasamanjari and Indrama journals and
regularly writing on performing arts in The
Pioneer newspaper every week. He has been a
prolific contributor and anchorperson on cultural
and professional programmes to London BBC, AIR and
Indian Doordarshan over last 35 years.
CONTENTS
|
Foreword by Prof. Michael
Meschke |
7 |
|
Preface |
9 |
| PART ONE |
OVERVIEW OF PUPPETS |
|
| Chapter 1: |
History and Genesis of Puppets |
13 |
| Chapter 2: |
Categories of Puppets |
23 |
| Chapter 3: |
Glove Puppets of India |
39 |
| Chapter 4: |
Rod Puppets of India |
45 |
| Chapter 5: |
Shadow Puppets of India |
53 |
| Chapter 6: |
String Puppets of India |
75 |
| Chapter 7: |
Contemporary Puppets of India |
99 |
| PART TWO |
MULTIPLE PURPOSES OF PUPPETRY |
|
| Chapter 8: |
Sources of Inspiration for Puppetry |
123 |
| Chapter 9: |
Puppetry for the Masses |
131 |
| Chapter 10: |
Puppetry for Education |
145 |
| Chapter 11: |
Social Role of Puppetry |
159 |
| PART THREE: |
THE CRAFT OF PUPPETRY |
|
| Chapter 12: |
The Creative Process |
179 |
| Chapter 13: |
Making Diverse Forms |
197 |
| Chapter 14: |
Manipulating Puppets |
209 |
| Chapter 15: |
Exercises for Puppeteers |
225 |
| PART FOUR |
ANIMATION IN PUPPETRY |
|
| Chapter 16: |
Scripts for Puppet Plays |
233 |
| Chapter 17: |
Movements and Gestures in Puppetry |
239 |
| Chapter 18: |
Voice and Music in Puppetry |
245 |
| Chapter 19: |
Puppet Production |
253 |
| PART FIVE |
BEYOND PUPPETS |
|
| Chapter 20: |
Puppetry Related Arts |
275 |
| Appendix 1: |
Museums in India Containing Puppets |
295 |
| Appendix 2: |
Directory of Indian Puppeteers |
299 |
| Appendix 3: |
Global Bibliography |
327 |
| Appendix 4: |
Glossary |
463 |
|
List of Illustrations |
471 |
|
Index |
487 |
