Sangeeth Sankar

Megha Radhakrishnan

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PARI Desk

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As a child,
Rajitha would peep in through the windows and watch her father and grandfather
train young boys, wondering why she could not join them. The puppets, in
particular, caught the young girl’s eyes, and her ears were fond of the
peculiar rhythm of the verses.  

“My
grandfather noticed my fascination with puppetry,” says the 33-year-old
Rajitha, “and offered to teach me the verses.” 

Rajitha
Pulavar is sitting on a wooden bench in her family’s studio in Shornaur,
carving facial features on a tholpavakoothu
puppet. On a desk in front of her are various iron instruments such as awls,
chisels and hammers. 

It is noon
and there is a lull in the studio. The only sound comes from the fan whirring
next to Rajitha in the shed where the puppets are made. Outside, on an open
terrace, sheets of leather have been left to cure in the heat before they can
be carved into puppets. 

“These are puppets for the shows we have on
modern themes,” says Rajitha, pointing to the one she is working on. Tholpavakoothu puppetry is a traditional
art form from India’s Malabar coast originally performed in temple premises
during the annual festival of goddess Bhadrakali.

Rajitha’s
grandfather, Krishnankutty Pulavar, played an important role in modernising the
art. He took it beyond the space of the temples and expanded the content to
stories beyond the Ramayana, which
was its original source. (Read:<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/keralas-puppeteers-extend-their-art/"> </a><a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/keralas-puppeteers-extend-their-art/">Kerala’s puppeteers extend their art</a>).

His
granddaughter has followed in his footsteps, and is the first woman performer
to join the puppetry troupe. She also set up an all-women troupe of her own in
2021, a first in tholpavakoothu puppetry.


The journey
to here has been a long one.

Mastering
the rhythmic verses was challenging because they were in Tamil, a language that
the Malayalam-speaking Rajitha did not know. But her father and grandfather
were patient with her while she grasped the details of meaning and
pronunciation: “My grandfather began by teaching the Tamil alphabet and slowly
introduced the verses.”

“He selected verses which were very interesting
to us children,” Rajitha continues. The first verse she learnt from her
grandfather was a scene from the Ramayana
where Hanuman challenges Raavana:

“Ada thadathu cheytha nee Antha nadhan deviye Vida thadath pomeda Jalathi choozhi langaye Veenadathu pokumo Eda poda ee Raavanaa” Hey Raavana, you
who commit evil deeds and
imprisoned the daughter of Earth, I will destroy all of Lanka with my tail. Begone,
Raavana!

The boys in
the family enthusiastically welcomed her, and in particular, her brother Rajeev
was very encouraging, Rajitha says. “he motivated me to start an all-women
troupe.”

Performing
in temples was (and largely continues to be) out of bounds for women, so when
she was ready, Rajitha started working with her family troupe for the
contemporary stage. But in the beginning, she preferred to remain behind the
scenes. 

“I delivered
the lines for female characters like Sita [in modern adaptations of the Ramayana], but I did not have the
confidence to manipulate the puppets or address the audience,” she says. But taking
part in her father’s workshops for children helped her build confidence.
“During the workshop, I had to interact with many people. I felt more confident
about facing a crowd.”

Rajitha also
mastered the craft of making puppets. “I started by crafting puppets on paper.
My parents and my brother were my teachers,” she says.  “I slowly learnt how to draw patterns on
leather and add colours that bring the puppets to life.” While the Ramayana
puppets have exaggerated facial features, the puppets for contemporary shows
are more realistic. “Even the costumes change based on the age of the woman –
if she is elderly, the puppet is dressed in a saree, if she is young, she might
wear a top and jeans,” Rajitha explains.

It wasn’t
just the men in the family that supported and encouraged Rajitha. The first
stepping stone for removing the gender divide in tholpavakoothu was set in place years before Rajitha joined her
grandfather’s class by her mother Rajalakshmi.

After marrying Ramachandra, Rajitha’s father, in
1986, Rajalakshmi started assisting the puppeteers in the family by helping
them make the puppets. However, she never got a chance to take part in a
recital or performance. “When I see Rajitha&#39;s journey, I feel fulfilled. She
has achieved what I couldn’t when I was young,” says Rajalakshmi.

One of the
first things that Rajitha did after she decided to make her own team, Pen
Pavakoothu, was to extend the invitation to her mother and her sister-in-law,
Aswathi. 

Aswathi was
initially uninterested in the art and never imagined she’d become a puppeteer.
After marrying into a puppeteer family, she says, “I began to appreciate this
art form.” But ritualistic puppetry is slow and the recital barely has any
puppet manipulation, so she wasn’t interested in learning the process. But
watching the contemporary puppetry performances by her husband Rajeev and his
team piqued her interest and she joined Rajitha’s team to learn the art.

Over the
years, Ramachandra had also involved more women in his troupe and this inspired
Rajitha to form an all-women puppetry group by inviting girls from neighbouring
houses to join. The first team had eight members – Nivedita, Nithya, Sandhya,
Sreenandha, Deepa, Rajalaskhmi and Aswathi. 

“We started
training sessions under my father’s guidance. Since most of these girls were in
school, we scheduled training sessions during their holidays or free time.
Although traditions dictate that women can’t perform puppetry, the families
were very supportive,” Rajitha says. 

In the
course of performing together, the women and girls have developed a close bond.
“We are like a family,” Rajitha says and adds, “we celebrate birthdays and
other family functions together.” 

Their first
performance took place on December 25, 2021. “We worked hard and spent a lot of
time preparing,” says Rajitha. This was the first time an all-female group was
going to perform tholpavakoothu puppetry. The venue was an auditorium in Palakkad
where the event was taking place under the ‘Samam’ programme of the Kerala
government.

Even in
winter, the heat from the oil lamps made it tough for the performers. “Some of
us got blisters,” says Rajitha, “it was very hot behind the screen.” But they
all felt a sense of determination, she says, “and the show turned out to be a
success.”  

The Samam
programme, which means ‘equal’ in Malayalam, provides a platform for aspiring
female artists and is organised by the Women and Child Care Department of
Palakkad. The performance of Rajitha’s troupe highlighted the women’s struggles
in education, employment, and family life while also exploring ways to
strengthen their rights. 

“We use our art to fight this inequality. The
shadows reflect our struggles,” Rajitha says. “We would like to explore new
ideas and themes, particularly in addressing socially relevant issues. We would
also like to present a Ramayana
narrative from the viewpoint of women.” 

After
establishing her own troupe, Rajitha started learning skills beyond puppet
manipulation. She has orchestrated entire performances – working on scripts,
recording the voices and music, puppet-making, manipulation and training the
team members. “For every performance, we had to prepare a lot. For instance,
for the performance on the topic of women empowerment, I went to the Women and
Child Welfare department to collect data on schemes and opportunities available
for women. Then, I outsourced the script and music. Once the recording was
done, we started making the puppets and rehearsing the manipulation. Here, every
team member has the freedom to contribute, shape the puppets and work on stage
movements.”

Their
performances have grown from just one show to more than 40 and their troupe,
now 15-members strong, closely collaborates with their parent organisation,
Krishnankutty Memorial Tholpavakoothu Kalakendram. In 2020, Rajitha was
presented with the Yuva Prathibha Award by the Kerala Folklore Academy.

When they
started out, the all-women team was not paid the same amount as their male
counterparts, Rajitha says. But slowly, things have changed. “Many
organisations, especially government ones, are treating us equally and paying
the same wages they would to male artists,” she adds. 

Another
significant step was receiving an invitation to perform in a temple. “Even
though it is not a ritualistic performance, we are happy that a temple has
invited us,” Rajitha says. She is now learning the verses of the Kamba Ramayana, the Tamil version of the
epic recited in ritualistic Tholpavakoothu,
which she will then teach the other members of the troupe. And she is hopeful
about the future. “I am very sure that there will be an era where women
puppeteers recite the verses of the Kamba
Ramayana inside the sacred temple groves, and I am equipping the girls for
the same.”

This story is
supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

‘The puppet's shadows reflect our struggles’

’کٹھ پتلیاں ہماری جدوجہد کو بیان کرتی ہیں‘

‘తోలుబొమ్మ నీడలు మా పోరాటాలకు ప్రతిబింబాలు’

‘பொம்மையின் நிழல்கள் எங்களின் போராட்டங்களை பிரதிபலிக்கிறது’

ਕਠਪੁਤਲੀਆਂ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਜੀਵਨ-ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਆਨਦੀਆਂ ਮਹਿਲਾ ਕਲਾਕਾਰ

‘ସଖୀ କଣ୍ଢେଇଙ୍କ ଛାଇ ଆମ ସଂଘର୍ଷକୁ ପ୍ରତିଫଳିତ କରେ’

'ಗೊಂಬೆಯ ನೆರಳು ನಮ್ಮ ಹೋರಾಟಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿಸುತ್ತದೆ'

कठपुतलियों के ज़रिए अपने संघर्षों की दास्तान सुनातीं महिला कलाकार

કઠપૂતળીઓ દ્વારા તેમના સંઘર્ષોનું વર્ણન કરતી મહિલા કલાકારો

‘कठपुतरी के परछाई मं झलकत हमर लड़ई’

गैरबराबरी से लड़े वाला केरल के कठपुतली कला

‘আমাদেরই লড়াইয়ের কথা বলে পুতুলের ছায়া’

‘পুতলাৰ ছাঁয়েই আমাৰ সংগ্ৰামৰ ছবিখন দাঙি ধৰে’

‘പാവകളുടെ നിഴലുകൾ പ്രതിഫലിപ്പിക്കുന്നത് ഞങ്ങളുടെ സംഘർഷങ്ങളെത്തന്നെയാണ്’

Palakkad

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‘The puppet's shadows reflect our struggles’

Rajitha Pulavar started the first all-women tholpavakoothu puppetry troupe in Shornaur, Kerala

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