Tholpavakoothu-- Shadow of the Original

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Shadow of the original

SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI

Tholpavakoothu demands expertise in various fields, knowledge of three languages being one of them, says Ramachandra Pulavar..

Shadow puppetry: K.K. Ramachandra Pulavar flanked by his puppets Rama and Ravana . He chooses verses from Kambaramayanam, a rich source of material, which he has mastered.

“Let the interview be in Tamil. I can speak pure Tamil. After all the songs in our shadow puppet shows are mainly from the Kambaramayanam,” says K.K. Ramachandra Pulavar, whose mother tongue is Malayalam.

He does speak pure Tamil, but rather haltingly, and this slows down the tempo of the conversation, and Ramachandran is in a hurry to finish the interview, because he has a programme that evening. So after sometime, he switches to Malayalam.

Tholpavakoothu, the form of puppetry in which Ramachandran is trained, originated in the 9th century A.D. As in the case of many other folk arts, Tholpavakoothu too is a part of temple rituals. “Goddess Bhadrakali was busy fighting the demon Tarakasura, when Rama was fighting Ravana. So she could not see the Lanka war. Lord Siva advised her to visit temples where the battle would be re-enacted in puppet shows. Our puppet shows are, therefore, staged in Bhagavati temples. And since the whole thing is only a re-enactment, a shadow of the original, we have shadow puppetry. The curtain on which the shadows are projected faces the deity, so that she can watch the show,” says Ramachandran, explaining the ritual aspect of his art.

All Bhagavati temples have permanent stages for puppet shows. The stage is called the ‘Koothu Madam.’ It is 42 feet long, 12 feet wide and 8 feet high. The puppets are behind the curtain and oil lamps are used to light up the scene behind the curtain.

Deer skin

Rama

Originally, puppets were made of palm leaves, and later deer skin was used. There used to be six sangams or associations of puppeteers in Kerala — Mathur, Puthur, Kavalapara, Kuthanur, Palapuram and Payaloor.

They all had leather puppets. The sangams died a natural death. Fortunately, some 400-year-old puppets are still kept in the Kavalapara palace. Every year during the temple festival, the puppets are brought out and used in the shows. The puppets, however, are not taken to temples outside Kavalapara, informs Ramachandran.

Ramachandran makes his own puppets, which he uses to perform in 105 temples in Kerala. These days the puppets are made of goat or buffalo hide. Different types of chisels are used to cut out features of the puppets.

The puppet is moved by a stick fixed on it vertically. The puppets are in different postures. They are 180 cm high and 45 cm wide.

Ramachandra Pulavar is from the Koonathara Tholpava school, and trained under his father — K.L. Krishnan Kutty Pulavar. Pulavar is an honorific that is given to a puppeteer who is also a scholar. The puppeteer has to study Kamba Ramayanam.

Ramachandran, for example, chooses verses for each show, from among the 3,100 Kambaramayanam verses that he knows. He has also written some lyrics himself.

A puppeteer must be familiar with Sanskrit, well read in the Vedas, Agama Sastras, Puranas, ithihasas and Ayurveda, and trained in classical music too. Since classical music requires years of study, some puppeteers give it a miss.

Instruments such as chendai, madhalam, kuzhal, thattam, bombu, chellinga and ezhupara are used. In the course of the show, the audience might have some questions for the main puppeteer. “The questions could be on anything, from Ayurveda to current events. So one must be well read,” says Ramachandran.

Long duration

Ravana

Tholpavakoothu is staged continuously for 7, 14, 21, 41, or 71 days, depending upon the custom practised in the temple. Earlier, shows used to be of ten hours duration. Now they have been reduced to five. “We perform because it is the tradition to, but there is no audience,” Ramachandran observes sadly.

The irony is that there are lots of sponsors for the shows, because it is believed that Goddess Bhagavati will bless those who contribute to Tholpavakoothu. Villagers make their contributions, and their names will be read by the puppeteer, who will invoke the blessings of the Goddess for the donor.

“While villagers don’t come to the shows, there has been an excellent response in colleges,” says Ramachandran. To him goes the credit of introducing secular and contemporary themes, to make the art more appealing to the younger generation. He has performed one-hour shows to packed auditoriums in colleges, on themes such as ragging and Hindu-Muslim unity. Ramachandran has done shows based on the Panchatantra for school children.

Dakshinachitra gave Ramachnadran an award sometime ago. Ramachandran has translated the Bala Kandam (Kamba Ramayanam) into English. He has taken his show to Israel, Sweden, Russia and Greece.

Ramachandran’s wife makes leather puppets that are much sought after not only here but abroad. “In fact, my wife makes more money through the export of her puppets than I make through puppetry,” Ramachandra Pulavar laughs.