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Performing Art · Karnataka
ಗೊಂಬೆಯಾಟ
Karnataka's traditional string-puppet theatre, staging the Ramayana and Mahabharata through metre-tall wooden marionettes carved, painted and voiced by a single family of puppeteers.
Understand
Sutrada Gombeyaata's string puppetry is recorded in Karnataka from at least the ninth century, with references in the writings of poet-saints Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa. It grew up alongside Yakshagana, borrowing its music, dance vocabulary and stage conventions, and became one of the few Indian puppet traditions performed as a full-length dramatic narrative rather than short vignettes.
Puppeteers carve and paint wooden marionettes — some weighing six to eight kilograms — from rot-resistant timber, then operate them on strings from an overhead bridge while singing and narrating scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, backed by live percussion and vocal music in the Yakshagana style.
Karnataka's traditional string-puppet theatre, staging the Ramayana and Mahabharata through metre-tall wooden marionettes carved, painted and voiced by a single family of puppeteers.
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