The World of Puppets: Rangaputhali Yashoda Puppetry

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Puppetry is a very ancient form of theater that involves the manipulation of puppets. It is a type of narrative theater which has over twenty living traditions of glove puppets, string puppets, rod puppets, and shadow theater puppetry. Indian puppetry has a strong connection with the traditional theater forms of the region or state to which each puppet genre belongs. The earliest references to leather puppetry in Karnataka are from the 10th-11th centuries and are associated with Basavanna (Basava), a saint-poet of the 12th century.

Togalu gombeyaata is a puppet show unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Togalu gombeyaata translates to "a play of leather dolls" in the native language of Kannada. It is a form of shadow puppetry. Togalu gombeyata performs the stories from the Puranas, and folk tales. While many believe the centuries-old art form of puppetry is slowly dying, Rangaputhali Yashoda Puppetry is committed to the upliftment and rejuvenation of the art of leather Puppetry.

Rangaputhali Yashoda Puppetry was started in the year 2011 by Mrs. Yashoda Shashidhara. She learnt this art of leather puppetry from her Guru Late Sri.Rangaputtali Raghunandan who performed shows across the country. After his Demise, Mrs. Yashoda decided to take his Art to the new heights. In the interest of protecting and promoting this Art, she is now taking this venture forward with ultimate commitment along with her five team members whom she has trained herself.

Mrs.Yashoda Shashidhar and her team of artists manipulate the puppets to suit the pre-recorded musical treat having Indian mythological significance. This gives the audience an amazing experience taking them to a new world of entertainment.

Their first-ever stage show was in 2009 and since then their success story continues to motivate. In fact, they have given outstanding performances across the state, country, and Overseas. Some of the events where Rangaputhali Yashoda Puppetry performed are World Kannada Conference at Dubai in 2009, Vishwa Kannada Samskruthi Sammelana, Bahrain in 2011, Vishwa kannada Sammelana, Australia, 2017, ICCR Program of Govt of India, Mysore Dasara, Hampi Utsav to name a few. The team’s Puppetry was even viewed by Late Puneeth Rajkumar in Kannadada Kotyadipathi and received much applaud from the actor and audience.

In appreciation of her outstanding performances, Mrs. Yashoda has been awarded with many prestigious awards. The Kala Chinmay, Karnataka Aisiri, Karnataka Vibhushana, Akhila Bharatha Yakshagana Sahitya Sammelana Puraskara, Kanyakumari Prashasthi are a few to mention. The new jewel to the crown of achievements is that she is recently awarded the Honorary Doctorate by the National Virtual University for the peace and education for her unique and outstanding achievement in the field of Leather Puppetry being a lady Artiste.

The actual motivation behind this started way back when she was conducting Cultural Activities and summer camps for kids in which she thought the kids about recycling of organic products (“Kasadinda Rasa”). She says “Whenever I visited Exhibitions, I was in awe of the puppets. I would wonder what they are made of and even tried to make them but the quality was not up to the mark. During the time I was anchoring for a Cultural event where I realized these puppets were made of leather. Sri.Rangaputtali Raghunandan sir encouraged me with Art and taught me the art of puppetry. “

She is the only female Togalu gombeyaatagathi in Karnataka. In fact, all her fellow artists are females. It was Raghunandan sir’s idea to start a female troupe in Karnataka. Since then it is a huge success and no turning back. Rangaputhali Yashoda Puppetry is a female-led team of artists who deserves encouragement and opportunities to stage their performance. Let us join our hands in protecting our heritage and contributing to this noble Art. It is our responsibility to not let this great Art form Vanish.