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‘Glove puppetry’ is a very popular puppet show in India, famous in the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. The puppets are usually worn on the hands of the puppeteers like gloves and the performance is shown to the audience with the accompaniment of narrative songs. The performance may be solo or in a group. The narrative songs are usually accompanied with traditional folk music played by dholak or damru. The songs vary from region to region and keep changing according to occasions. Sometimes the lyrics are composed by the puppeteer and sung in imitation of the tune of popular Hindi or Bengali songs. Apart from the mythical stories of Radha-Krishna and other figures, most of their narratives are related to events connected with the daily lives and events of the common human beings. They are performed for purposes of social awareness like pulse polio vaccination, environmental pollution, dowry system, female infanticide or child marriage and women empowerment and education among the masses.
Forms of glove-puppetry vary according to regional differences. While in Odisha it is widely known as Sakhi Naach and in Kerala as Pavakathakali or Pavakoothu, in West Bengal it is popularly known as Beni Putul or Bener Putul. Though the performance of glove-puppetry is now endangered in West Bengal and traces of its performance can be seen occasionally in some parts of Murshidabad and the 24 Parganas, it is still a very popular performing art in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal. Particularly, in one of the villages in East Midnapore named Padmatamli (near Mugberia) under the jurisdiction of the Bhupatinagar police station, it is still practiced and performed by a small number of puppeteers.
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Contact No: 9732957934
Sri Sarad Kumar Ghorai
Sri Paresh Kumar Ghorai
Sri Ramkrishna Dolai