String puppets known as Kathputli, depicting a snake charmer and his snake.
{RELATEDOBJS: Ganesh shadow puppet.
Music Gallery
Pungi or murli (pipe - double clarinet with wind cap, single reed) played by snake charmer kathputli puppet (Case no.375)
Ghungru bells (Case no.?) Natural History
Common Cobra from India (Case no.38 & 39)
Centenary Gallery - Stone figure of Ganesh from the Mahabharata (Lower case opposite the Pacific spears and masks)}
To make the puppet move, the puppeteer makes a loop around his fingers and uses the strings. The puppeteer also has ghungru (bells) in their hands to play a rhythm. The snake charmer is playing a murli (reed pipe). Rajasthani puppeteers are traditionally from the Bhatt community and are known as Nat Bhatt (those who perform plays). Generally their skills are passed on from generation to generation. The sutradhar (holder of the strings) is the main puppeteer, and is accompanied by the bhagavat (narrator-singer), a woman who is typically the puppeteer's wife. Puppeteers usually pray to Ganesh before the start of the show.
