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- Title
Beni Putul or the Glove Puppetry: A Performing Tool for Resistance to Colonialism.
- Authors
Ali, Mir Mahammad; Ali, Mir Ahammad
- Abstract
Puppetry or the puppet show is a very popular performing art that is chiefly concerned with the manipulation of the puppets for entertaining people. India has a rich heritage of puppetry. Depending upon the various ways in which the puppets are manipulated, puppets in India are divided into four different categories - String Puppet, Shadow Puppet, Rod Puppet and the Glove Puppet. This paper revisits the Indian tradition of puppetry-String Puppet, Shadow Puppet and Rod Puppet, and relates it to the Glove Puppetry of West Bengal, more particularly the tradition of glove puppetry as still practised in the Padmatamli village of East Midnapur district of West Bengal. Popularly known as 'Beni putul' or 'Bener Putul' in Bengal, this form of puppetry has its genesis in the colonial period. By examining the origin of this puppetry in Bengal, this paper attempts to explore how this performing art served as a tool for colonial resistance against the British Indigo-Planters. It also highlights the present state of the puppeteers and their struggle to keep this ancestral tradition of puppetry alive.
- Subjects
WEST Bengal (India); PUPPET making
- Publication
Chitrolekha International Magazine on Art & Design, 2015, Vol 5, Issue 2, p94
- ISSN
2231-4822
- Publication type
Article