How the 13th generation of a puppeteer family is preserving the art in Kerala’s Palakkad

Being an ancient temple art, Tholpavakoothu (shadow puppetry) is performed in the Bhadrakali temples of Kerala’s Palakkad and its neighbouring districts. Once a vibrant form of art, its popularity dwindled after the introduction of cinema and television. As a ritual, it is today performed in the temples during the festival season (January to June) every year.

Poor remuneration and lack of support brought in a stumbling block and many puppeteers left the traditional job. However, the scions, who claim that they belong to the 13th generation in the family of puppeteers in Palakkad, still swim against the flow with the ancient leather puppets that they inherited from their forefathers, to preserve the art form.

Tholpavakoothu (shadow puppetry) is performed today in temples during the festival season (January to June) every year.

“The future of shadow puppetry appears to be a blend of traditional techniques and modern innovations, aiming to revitalise this ancient art form and make it relevant to contemporary audiences,” said Rajeev Pulavar, a young puppeteer and son of Ramachandra Pulavar, a renowned puppeteer and a recipient of Padma Shri. “This includes using technology to create new stories, integrating shadow puppetry with other arts and cultural experiences, and training new generations of practitioners,” he added.

It was Krishnankutty Pulavar (1925-2000) who popularised Tholpavakoothu by forming a troupe in Shoranur in the late 1960s. Today, his sons — Ramachandra Pulavar, Vishwanath Pulavar and Lakshmana Pulavar — nephews and grandsons run the show, not only in the temples but on stages outside them as well. While some believe that the remuneration that a puppeteer gets from the temples during the six months is more than enough to survive throughout the year, others feel it is not sufficient to meet the ends. Lack of money and support, according to Ramachandra Pulavar, is not the issue.

It was Krishnankutty Pulavar (1925-2000) who popularised Tholpavakoothu by forming a troupe in Shoranur in the late 1960s. 

“The family title ‘pulavar’ means one who is well versed in all subjects. In olden times, a ‘pulavar’ was a great scholar and the stage was a place for him to express his vision and ideas. It was not for money that they performed. But today, many misuse the title ‘pulavar’ and eye for awards and scholarships in the name of this ancient art form,” he said.

The story of Tholpavakoothu is based on Kamba Ramayanam, a retelling of the Ramayana in Tamil by Kamban in the 12th century AD. The performance can last 7, 14, 21 and 41 days depending on the tradition at the temple where it is performed. In normal cases, a play takes 21 days to complete with a seven-hour performance every night. The performance begins at night and goes on till dawn and it requires 120 to 150 puppets. The performance is accompanied by the recitation of slokas from Kamba Ramayanam and the performers are required to memorise more than 2,000 slokas and their meanings.

As someone who started learning Tholpavakoothu from his father when he was eight-year-old, it has been a long journey for Ramachandra. “I learnt all the slokas of Kamba Ramayanam by heart. Today’s artists don’t try to memorise the slokas and they just read it out straight from the book. It was difficult to learn Tholpavakoothu those days because the masters were very prominent when it came to the style and narration. They never compromised on it at any cost,” said the 65-year-old puppeteer, who runs the Krishnankutty Pulavar Memorial Tholpavakoothu Puppet Centre in Shoranur.

Members of the Pulavar family with puppets used in shadow puppetry.

In olden times, the puppets were made by using the skin of deer. After the introduction of strict wildlife laws in the country, usage of deer skin became a punishable offence. The puppet-makers soon started using the skins of ox and sheep. It takes a minimum 20 days to make a puppet. Chenda, Ezhupara, Ilathalam (metal instrument) and Maddalam are the accompanying instruments used in the play, which last for seven to eight hours.

If you look at the history of Tholpavakoothu, you will know that it is a male-dominated art form where women have no role other than being a viewer. But Ramachandra was against this and he trained his wife, daughter and daughter-in-law on how to make puppets and also the nuances of the art form. In March, his daughter Rajitha choreographed a woman-Pavakoothu. It was the first time that a woman choreographed a play in the male-oriented Tholpavakoothu genre. Rajitha is also the first woman who performed Tholpavakoothu with her father and brothers.

In Tholpavakoothu, the puppets are moved with the help of sticks, letting their shadows cast on a screen with the help of a row of oil lamps (21 numbers) in the background. Called Koothumadam, the exclusive hall built for the show will have a screen of white cloth and a black cloth. The puppets are held behind the white cloth. The lamps are placed on a especially curved wooden beam called vilakku madam. “Kerala’s shadow puppetry is the only art form in India where they have a fixed performance space known as Koothumadam (play theatre) situated strategically outside the main shrine of the goddess Bhadrakali so audiences from different castes can witness the show. They also have the widest screen in India in traditional shadow puppetry repertoire measuring 42 feet, thus another name for Koothumadam — Nalpatheeradi Kalari — which means 42-foot stage,” writes Atul Sinha of Jamia Millia Islamia in his research paper titled ‘Caste, Gender and space in Tholpavakoothu Shadow Puppet Performances in Bhadrakali Temples of Kerala’, published in ResearchGate.

In 2021, M Lakshmana Pulavar, son of Tholpavakoothu exponent Marimuthu, who runs the Harisree Kannan Tholpavakoothu Kalakendram in Kavalappara in Shoranur, won the Kerala Folklore Akademi Award for being the only Tholpavakoothu artist in Kerala capable of presenting 2100 slokas of Ramayana beginning from the birth of Lord Rama to the ascension to the throne. His son Sajeesh Pulavar incorporated robotics in the traditional art form in the same year. The young puppeteer made the leather puppets perform ‘Ramayana’ with the support of robotics.

Even though the scientific community welcomed the move, many senior puppeteers criticised him for breaking the tradition. A mechanical engineer, Sajeesh resigned his job and joined the family troupe to strengthen his commitment to the art form. ''My father was getting programmes from various temples and he was not able to make it due to shortage of puppeteers in our troupe. I thought it was the right time to make a move and that’s how I became a full-time puppeteer,’’ said Sajeesh, who also makes puppets.

He said his father Lakshmana Pulavar owns more than 250 puppets, including some traditional ones which may be more than 300 years old. “You need a lot of puppets for narrating an epic like Ramayana. You have to show the sea, a huge tree, a tiny fish or a bird… the characters are immense so we need sufficient puppets to play those characters,” he said. Sajeesh said he was able to run his troupe with some stage shows outside the temple. “We can’t depend on the six-month temple performance alone. We do some stage shows and they are the main source of income. We won’t be able to survive otherwise,” he added.

Sadananda Pulavar, son of Tholpavakoothu exponent Annamala Pulavar, is another senior puppeteer who is worried about the falling standards in the art form. Even though his troupe performs Tholpavakoothu in the temples, Sadananda is not happy about the puppeteers of today. “In the 1950 and 60s, we had great Tholpavakoothu artists. Barring a Balakrishna Pulavar, we don’t have good Tholpavakoothu artists today. The artists of today want to make money but it was not the case five decades ago. We have lost a great tradition and today’s artists are not willing to learn,” he said. Sadananda, however, believes that the art form is surviving mainly because of the temple festivals. “The temple astrologers play a big role in this and it will continue to be performed in the temples until they say ‘no’ to it. The art form is losing its audience mainly due to poor and substandard performance of its artists,” he added.

The Pulavar family is using traditional techniques and modern innovations to revitalise the art form and make it relevant to contemporary audiences.

In his school, Ramachandra trains more than 40 students in various aspects of Tholpavakoothu. He uses songs of Michel Jackson and AR Rahman to catch the attention. He feels that the art form will continue to flourish as more youngsters come to the field every other day. Language, according to him, brings in a stumbling block.

“Language is the main problem. The Malayalee students who study Tholpavakoothu don’t understand Tamil. And that’s the main issue. Fluency in Tamil is essential in Tholpavakoothu,” he said. At the same time, Ramachadra is hopeful that the art form will survive. In his home in Shoranur, Ramachandra and his son Rajeev maintain a museum where they preserve the materials associated with Tholpavakoothu and the main being the puppets. Ramachandra claims that the oldest puppets in his collection may be more than 600 years old. “I got them from my father, who got them from his father. They are transferred from one generation to the other. We don’t know exactly how old they are,” said Ramachandra.