MY EXPERIMENTS WITH PUPPETS
By  Dattatreya Aralikatte

Our puppet shows are on temple-based Mudrika style. Mudrika means “Mudra” or impression of God, culture and tradition, Mudra aims at preserving for the future generation, the philosophy of life, the philosophy of culture and tradition. Mudra symbolises the union of God. “We are puppets in the hands of God”, is the philosophy in Mudrika style puppet theatre.
Natya Shastra is an epic, which deals with Indian dance and drama, “Abhinaya” (acting, expression and movement) is important here. “Vachikabhinaya” (facial expression), “Angikabhinaya” (body expression) together constitute abhinaya. This aspect receives more importance in Mudrika style puppet theatre. This style leaves a lasting impression on the minds and the hearts of the audience about Indian culture. The costume design for the puppets is done keeping in view the essential features of Indian culture. Hence Indian dance, music and literature are an integral part of Mudrika School. The songs are based on Carnatic classical tunes.

PUTHALI:

Putthali in Sanskrit means the puppet used for the performance.  Manipulation of an intricate web of strings enables the movement of the puppet.

SUTRADHAR:

Sutradhar is the protagonist of the show who introduces the story and the characters to the audience and also performs rituals before and after the show. Some times he narrates the story. The concept of Sutradhar is a gift given by the puppet theatre to Indian theatre.  Puppet shows can be used as an effective educational media. Through puppetry, learning and teaching can be made easy.

Aims:

1.      Effective teaching through puppetry

2.      Time saving through puppetry

3.      Quality learning through puppetry

4.      Easy learning through puppetry

5.      Puppetry as a teaching aid

6.      Quality teaching

7.      Revival of puppetry as a media of instruction

8.      Improvement in memory.

CLASSROOM EFFECT:

My experiments with puppets are really interesting. First, I have selected a complete section from the same socio background students and divided into two groups. I selected a lesson from social science, called “Rise of Islam”, and taught this lesson to group ‘A’ as usual. At the end, I conducted a test with 20 questions. Each groups contained 20 students. The answers were analysed. The percentage of result and quality of the result were poor.
Then, I wanted to test the effect of puppetry as a medium of teaching in the group ‘B’. I dramatised the same topic “Rise of Islam” through puppet show. I was able to complete the lesson within 20 minutes but the same took 45 minutes for group ‘A’. At the end test was conducted. The result was very good. The students answered very well. The quality of the answer was very good.

CONCLUSION:

The analysis shows that the group ‘A’ produced 52.5% result and lacuna is 47.5%. In the group ‘B’, the same socio economic background, taught with puppets, the result is 87.5% and lacuna is 12.5%. There is a lot of improvements is the effect of learning. After one month, again a test was administered. Group ‘A’ secured 49% with average result. Group ‘B’ secured 85% with quality answer.
This experiment proves the effect of teaching through puppetry is more effective, time saving, and the impression is long lasting, work is very easy.

[Paper presented at the seminar on Contemporary Puppet Theatre organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in March 1998.]