A new dawn for leather puppetry in the Godavari region
The Sangeet Natak Akademi began the revival of leather puppetry, surviving by the sacred Godavari river for over a century, by grooming young disciples through ‘Kala Diksha’ initiative that aims at preserving traditional arts and crafts in India.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s premier academy of music, dance and drama, has attempted to revive ancient theatre performance of leather puppetry that is on the brink of extinction in the Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh. In recent years, leather puppetry survived in the Godavari region despite scores of puppeteer families have embraced another faith and quit their tradition.
Of the nearly 300 families belonging to the leather puppetry, barely 60 performers are left now in the Madhavapatnam panchayat near Kakinada city. Around 150 families have quit puppetry after they embraced a new faith.
A century ago, the leather puppeteers migrated from Maharashtra and settled in Madhavapatnam panchayat. Very few families reside in areas surrounding the Kakinada city — Karapa, Mandapeta, and Peddapuram in the erstwhile East Godavari district.
In December 2023, Sangeet Natak Akademy designated Madhavapatnambased puppeteer Thota Balakrishna to revive leather puppetry by handing over the theatre tradition to the next generation through the ‘GuruSishya Parampara’ (teacherdisciple tradition) as part of the ‘Kala Diksha’ initiative. The revival of puppetry is in the nonformal method of training. Preservation of traditional arts is the prime aim of Kala Diksha.
“The training should be done in nonformal and personalised atmosphere in GuruSishya parampara, which has been the hallmark of our ancient Sanatana tradition,” says Raju Das, secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi in his letter to Balakrishna.