Striking the Ecological Chord with Puppetry

Educating people about the minutiae and intricacies of nature is perhaps the best way to promote conservation, but science and scientific temperament are not always given an attentive ear. There exists a section of people who are very rigid in their thinking, and this becomes a hurdle in the smooth dissemination of information. We have seen through the ages that parents always project math and science as dreaded subjects to their children, and this concept is nurtured and grows bigger with the passage of time. This generation, as they grow up, become disenchanted with scientific development and concepts and cultivate the notion that any information related to this subject is irrelevant and uninteresting (Goodrum, et al). This type of situation is not just limited to a particular region or country but such tailback thinking does exist all around the globe, and thus the role of imparting edutainment becomes much more vital for the puppeteers who deal with these issues.

Realising the importance of developing a scientific temperament among the masses for the conservation and creation of an ecological balance in nature, puppeteer Manoranjan Roy from Assam took up the herculean task of spreading the message with the help of the traditional art form Putala Naach. Putala Naach is the traditional string puppet of Assam. If we search the history of puppetry in Assam, we find a huge gap from the ancient time to the medieval Assam, where the presence of puppetry cannot be traced out. The history of puppetry practices may be ancient in other parts of India and it may be a glorified chapter of our cultural tradition too, but we have no proof that it had an impact on great Vaisnavite reformer Srimanta Shankardeva’s theatre also. There’s no historical data of puppetry practices from the 8th century to the 15th century of Assam (Dutta,1986). From all available accounts it is clear that at present – apart from the string-puppet – no other forms of puppetry like shadow-puppets, rod-puppets, hand or glove-puppets exists in Assam. However, the puppet section established at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalashetra, a cultural complex established under the Clause VI of the Assam Accord, 1985, are trying their hands on rod-puppets and water-puppetry. The Assamese Bhagvata also has several references that highlight the presence of wooden puppets (kasthara, kasthamayaputula or daruputula) and shadow-puppets (chaya-putula) (Dutta, 1986). Experts believe (Dutta, 1986) that water-puppetry existed in Assam long before Sankardeva’s birth but it got its due recognition only during his time. He, in a way, was the pioneer in developing the tradition that is now the national heritage of countries like Vietnam and Cambodia ("Water puppets," 2017).

Manoranjan Roy is by profession a school teacher, and puppetry is his passion.  He therefore made a smart use of “narrative” or “the story telling” technique to reach out to the audience. As he comes from an educational background, he is aware of the concept of therapeutic alliance that originated in the psychoanalytic theories (e.g., Freud 1912/1958, 1913; Greenson 1965). The use of therapeutic alliance along with the narrative style served a dual role - the first being visual illustration of the concepts and secondly to explain it with an emotional appeal. The main idea behind his puppetry projects was to provide therapeutic counselling to the students so that the phobia that circulates among students that mathematics as a subject is very tough could be erased out of their minds so as to create a positive mind set and make the learning process pleasing.

Therapeutic alliance has over the years become a pan-theoretic concept (Ackerman and Hilsenroth 2003) because it has made its way into myriad of disciplines. To overcome the cognitive and emotional disorder, many organisations are trying to come up with different activities that are student friendly. In the field of education as well, experts are trying to bring in an admixture of various therapies (in this context it is the puppets) along with subject content, which they term as “Educational Alliance.” It not only serves the purpose of imparting education but also tries to provide the students with positive counselling so that the aura of negativity is unable to grab them. With increased research, understanding, and awareness of psychiatric illnesses, experts are creating more and more effective methods of alleviating emotional and behavioral changes among the audience.

In the words of Manoranjan Roy: “before telling them how to preserve nature and why is it important to  maintain an ecological balance, I opted to highlight what drawbacks does felling down of trees, excessive use of plastic, open defecation, vehicular pollution, water pollution, sewage treatment etc. has made on our life.” The stories developed by the puppeteers narrate common problems that the public in general face on a day-to-day basis like man-animal conflicts, artificial floods, safe drinking water. Artificial flood stands out as a major problem these days for the residents of Guwahati city which occurs due to the unplanned expansion of the city to amass increasing population and severe encroachment in the wetlands, low lying areas, hills and shrinkage of forest cover. These bared hills and loss of wetlands thus lead to artificial floods and water logging during storm events, and it has become a public grievance – particularly during the rainy season. Over the years another vital issue that is gaining momentum is tackling the man-animal conflict, which is on the rise in Assam due to the dwindling of forest cover.

Encroachment of domain land, poaching of wild animals, etc., result in ecological imbalance, and eventually, the animals experience scarcity of required food in their home grounds and in search of the same they come out of their habitats to nearby human habitations. Thus the situation of conflict arises between humans and animals. This happens especially in between humans and wild elephants and the one-horned Rhinoceros in Assam. Thus, the process of informing children about why is it critical to protect our environment, given the harmful consequences for both plants and animals from the growing interaction of humans with the environment, became much easier. Sagarika Puppet Theatre, under the aegis of Manoranajan Roy, has performed many such informative and motivational shows on environmental protection and sustainability at reputable schools in and around Guwahati city.

Sri Manoranjan Roy (50) has been associated with puppetry since 1988. His theatre was registered in the year 2005-2006 so as to get a license to perform commercially. All cultural organizations In India must get themselves registered with the department of culture in that specific state so that they become eligible to apply for financial grants and also to participate in various festivals and events. Roy’s entry into puppetry made its way from his interest in the traditional Jatra – the popular folk theatre form of West Bengal. The word Jatra litearally means “journey.” In his youth, when he did a short stint in the Jatra theatre, he got a chance to experience a puppet show by the performers of West Bengal. Seeing how skillfully they manipulated the puppets with the help of strings, he started developing his interest in puppetry. To satiate his zeal for learning puppetry, he went to Cooch-Behar in search of the troupe whose performance motivated him during his days of Jatra performance and there spent time at the residence of the puppeteer and learnt the basics of puppetry. Sadly, the puppet troupe could not sustain itself and in the long run it had to shut down its operations.

Coming back home with the intention of setting up a puppet theatre, he started searching for the existing puppet theatre groups in Assam and came in contact with a veteran, Late Durlab Deka of Nagaon, who was a prominent puppeteer of his time. His puppet theatre was known as Nilakantha Putula Naac' but after his death it closed down. According to Hindu mythology the term Nilakantha refers to Lord Shiva who gained gained this epithet when he consumed the Kalakuta (Poison) that emerged from Samudra Manthan.  It was under the able guidance of Late Durlab Deka that Roy learnt all the nuances of Puppetry and also how to showcase a particular story within the framework of a theatre form. From then on, there was no looking back. Roy started to follow his passion alongside his main profession, thereby maintaining a smooth balance between academics and performing arts. The main USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of their troupe is the diversity in their choice of subjects ranging from mythology to folktales, from religious to scientific topics and so on. They now also focus on educating the masses on various themes, with environment protection being one of them.

These puppet troupes from Assam might be living in oblivion for the rest of the world, but when comes to rendering their services for the betterment of the society, they never hesitate to play their part. Even during the pandemic, almost all the troupe leaders tried their hands at making use of the social media platform for sharing information on the various standard operating procedures related to COVID-19.

Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, which says: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Brundtland, 1987) In the context of this definition, I would like to refer to the case study of another puppeteer Abani Kanta Sarma’s “Ruby Puppet Theatre” from Assam, which is also working quietly to create awareness among the public on various issues related to society.

Abani Kanta Sarma, is a visionary artist in his own right. He founded the “Ruby Puppet Theater” in 1974. Sarma learnt the tricks of Puppetry from “Santoshi Maa Putul Theater”- a troupe that came to Assam from West Bengal way back in 1972. Two years later, he started on his own later and soon emerged as a master puppeteer. Normally, we can find a male artist delivering a dialogue for the male puppet characters, on the other hand a women renders dialogue for the female characters. But with Ruby Puppet Theatre things are different and many audience still throng the pandals (venue) for experiencing this unique performance.  The USP of Sarma's performance is that he renders voice for both the male and female characters by himself with much elan and surprise for his audience.

Sarma's puppet performances bear some resemblance to those of West Bengal, but this master puppeteer has no ill feelings about it. He says, "I feel very proud to carry the legacy of my alma-mater with a regional appeal." When asked about the present status of puppetry in Assam Sarma, he said: “what initially started as a passion has now become a means of livelihood for this consummate artist.” Though he has been associated with puppetry for the last thirty-eight years, “the going has not been smooth at all," rues Sarma. His journey encountered many challenges but, scarcity of raw materials required for making the puppets was a major issue for him. During his early period, they used to make puppets with Pani Meteka (Water Hyacinth), which was locally available very easily in and around any small or large bodies of water or wetlands. Water hyacinth (E. crassipes) is one of the most prominent aquatic weed plants found throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Hyacinths are also one of the most productive photosynthetic plants in the world. But gradually, with the rise of industrialization, these water bodies started to disappear and so did the Pani Meteka, Puppeteers’ choice of materials became more limited. Gradually they had to shift their choice to other available resources like thermocol, soil, soft wood, sponge etc., for making their puppets. This scarcity came as a moment of enlightenment for Sarma and from then on they started to include science-related themes as the subject matter of their plays. Ruby Puppet Theater has put up successful shows on the importance of wetlands as the most productive habitats, as they contain a high number of plant and animal species including mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates. The most important asset of Ruby Puppet Theater is that they emphasize their ancient heritage by prioritizing traditional mythological themes like Raja Harishchandra (the story of a legendary Indian King of Solar dynasty who never left the path of truth), Lakhinder Behula (the story of legendary folk heroine who symbolizes strength and courage), Sati Joymati (the story of a brave Tai-Ahom Prince Godapani’s wife from Assam who sacrificed her life in saving her husband) etc. but have also accepted various kinds of change in their subjects to meet the requirements of an urban audience that appreciates new concepts and themes like AIDS awareness, “Witch-craft” and the like for public participation.

Arnab Putala Kristi is another contemporary troupe from Assam working dedicatedly to create social change through puppetry. The gamut of themes this puppet troupe addresses includes those related to social awareness of water conservation, deforestation, pulse polio immunization, AIDS awareness, Swacch Bharat (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and the like. Puppeteers Mira Sarma and Manoj Bora make successful use of appealing music and creativity to enhance the appeal of their shows and help make learning fun and more effective for young learners. “Art is a powerful teaching tool, which helps reinforce messages and content in a beautiful way that engages the imagination and elicits enhanced audience interactions,” says Mira Sarma who has been associated with puppetry for a long time. One of their most successful plays, The Talking Tree, is very popular among the students because here the tree itself narrates its journey from a young sapling to become a grown up tree and the deterrents it had to face from the nearby residents who wanted to cut it down for various reasons.       

Theater has always proved to be an operative tool in the widespread struggle to address social problems in India, from the time of freedom struggle till today. Puppets with their strong empathetic characteristics have a unique power to overcome social conventions like ethnic and cultural barriers.  Puppets have always been a sophisticated means of artistic expression and so whenever we think of an alternate media to deal with serious, critical and neglected social problems, puppetry emerges as the first choice. Puppetry is a non-threatening medium of expression because the cultural tradition of India makes it a culturally acceptable medium for the masses (Kruger, 9). So, based on these ideology organizations like Assam AIDS Control Society, National Rural Health Mission, and Rashtriya Sarba Shiksha Abhigyan, Assam are making use of Putala Naach extensively as a tool for social awareness. Chandrani Das, State Media Expert of NRHM in an interview asserted that after preliminary research conducted by their ground level operators, it was found that the response of Putula Naach as a tool for disseminating information is quite user friendly, and so from this year they have decided to introduce Putala Naach for social campaigning on health and hygiene and child marriage.

In Assam, the audience of Putala Naach is divided into two spheres – rural and urban. While the urban audience appreciates concepts of scientific temperament like AIDS awareness, witch-hunting (witch-hunting is a form of superstition wherein women usually are blamed for deaths, illnesses, financial troubles, or even crop damage and targeted by relatives, neighbors, or fellow villagers. Such women are often ex-communicated, forced to leave villages, tortured by kangaroo courts, and in many cases killed. The real motives of such killings are often property disputes and ego clashes), environment day (which is celebrated annually on the 5th of June); the rural audience on the other hand still prefers the traditional stories of Raja-Harishchandra (truthful King), Sati-Behula (Legendary heroine), Chandra-Sankha (legendary King) and Devi-Manasha (Serpent Goddess). So for the puppet troupes it’s a two-tier responsibility, wherein they must bring in changes by globalizing their thoughts but should also stick to the traditional roots by teaming it up with the local concepts. The puppeteers of Assam are now experimenting on all possible factors to make this art form survive in this part of the region by innovating new forms, in which string puppetry is merged with rod puppets to give it a new flavor and so on.

The communicative aspect of traditional media like puppetry is always highlighted by scholars of folklore material. In Asomar Lokonatya (1991), Ram Goswami also highlights the importance of folk art forms for spreading messages and says how the new generations of puppeteers are incorporating different flavors of comedy, satire, etc as the background of the plays to draw in more audiences. Organizations like Assam AIDS Control Society, National Rural Health Mission, and Rashtriya Sarba Shiksha Abhigyan, Assam, are making use of Putala Naach extensively as a tool for creating social awareness on the issues their organizations address.

Puppetry creates participatory dialogue, builds community and opens up possibilities for social change in rural areas, because it has emerged as an effective communication platform for various sections of audience. Thus puppet theatre will be known for future researchers not only as a pedagogical tool, but also as an effective communication platform for bringing awareness among the masses regarding taboo subjects like witch hunting, child marriage, Sexually Transmitted Disease and maintaining an ecological balance.

Dr. Moushumi Bhattacharjee is a Senior Consultant for the Dr Anamika Ray Memorial Trust (ARMT) and is a guest faculty member at Gauhati University.

REFERENCES

Brundtland, G. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.United Nations General Assembly document A/42/427 (1987).

Goodrum, Denis, et al. "The status and quality of teaching and learning of science in Australian Schools: A Research Report Canberra: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs." The Status and Quality of Teaching and Learning of Science in Australian Schools: A Research Report, 2000, Accessed 28 May 2022.

Khir, Roselina Johari Md, et al. "Puppetry As A Platform For Body Safety Awareness Campaign." Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal 6.10 (2019).

Kruger, Marie. "Puppets in theatre for social change: an analysis of the popularity of puppets in Africa." African Performance Review 2.2_3 (2008): 7-31.