Leather Puppets

Leather puppets are known as Tholu(leather) Bommalu (puppets) in the Telugu language.

  As a matter of fact, puppetry, which is a form of theatre, is one of the earliest known performing arts in the world. For instance,’Leather Puppetry ‘ is folk art from Andhra Pradesh .

 As is with several other performing arts in India, the Ramayana & Mahabharata are the 2 great epics that have inspired story telling. Intricate stories form these 2 epics captivated audiences all over the country- be it classical dance, music, theatre or puppetry.

Leather Puppets-Making

 The leather that is used is goat leather .For example, the leather is flattened and cleaned with hot water to remove all  hair  from the skin.In other words, the cleansing process goes on for several days until the leather becomes transparent like paper. Pencil sketches are used for the drawings. As a matter of fact,  Bamboo nibs are used for the drawings and not a brush. The limbs of the puppets are  crafted separately  and stitched together later for free movement. First, the design is etched and projected.  They are then painted with vegetable dyes &  colours.Vivid colours are used to colour the product or the puppets. A lot of prominence is given to all human & animal forms. The eyes in particular are etched out prominently.In other words, it requires  designing , holing ,crafting & colouring .

Several characters from plays like Ramayana & Mahabharta come to life with these crafts. Whole stories are acted out with the puppets .

The leather puppet show is typically held behind a  thin veil /cloth screen with background lights.

Lamp shades, wall hangings, partitions &  puppets are some of the beautiful items made with this craft.

 It is a way of livelihood for villagers who have been practising this art for several years.

Nimmalakunta in the Dhrmavam district , Mandal &  Nasaropet are  towns that  well known for this art. There are practicing artists there even today in Anantpur district.These products  are also available online.

It is one of the most colourful  handicrafts from India.