Long before wooden puppetry (Bommalattam) became a recognised folk art form presented on stages in Tamil Nadu villages, it had already found a mention in Tamil literature. Among its earliest references are the Thirukkural couplets by Thiruvalluvar, who refers to wooden puppets (marappavai) as a powerful metaphor for life. In Kural 1,020, he says the actions of a man without modesty are like the movements of a wooden puppet operated with strings. He is as soulless as the puppet. In verse 1,058, he says that if there are no mendicants to seek charity, then the world will consist only of people who move like wooden marionettes. Such references point to the antiquity of wooden puppetry.“The art requires a knowledge of music, literature and folk arts, skill in mimicry, a sense of humour and enormous stamina, “ says T.S. Murugan, of Sri Murugan Sangeetha Bommalatta sabha, who belongs to a hereditary family practising this folk art form.
T.S. Murugan of Sri Murugan Sangeetha Bommalatta Sabha, Kumbakonam.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“My father T.N. Sankaran, who was the recipient of the Puraskar award from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, learnt Carnatic music from many gurus, one of whom was Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai. Recognising his talent, Mani Iyer of Mangalagana Sabha, Kumbakonam’s most popular wooden puppetry company, asked my father to join his troupe, as a singer and also to render dialogues. Since my father was visually challenged, he did not operate the puppets. A surgery after a few years restored his vision in one eye,” he adds. Murugan further shares that, impressed by his father’s resonant singing at their wooden puppetry shows staged during the Agama Silpa Sadas, Kanchi Paramacharya honoured him with the ‘Sankaranadan’ title.Sankaran was also held in high regard by music aficionados. “E. Krishna Iyer — lawyer and founder-secretary of the Music Academy, once arranged a puppet show at Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Mani Iyer decided to leave appa behind. However, Krishna Iyer insisted that the show could not go on without my father and was prepared to cancel it if he was unavailable.” When Mani Iyer passed away, Sankaran decided to have his own company, and thus was born Sri Murugan Sangeetha Bommalatta sabha. New puppets had to be made for the company. While carpenters sculpted the torso and limbs, Sankaran’s wife made the faces and did the painting.How big are the wooden puppets? “Puppets portraying children are typically about a ft tall, while those representing demons are three ft in height and weigh as much as 22 kilograms. Each puppet is brought to life using black strings,” explains Murugan.
