We can see many colourful (kathputli)puppets shops on the street of Rajasthan. India.
Rajasthan meaning the Kings land
Kathputli (puppet) art is a tradition started from more than thousands years old we found its reference in Rajasthani(Indian)folk tales, ballads and sometimes even in their folk songs.. Similar puppets which are rod-puppets, was mostely used with the bamboo sticks as a body part and controled by cotten thread(strings).
It is truly rajasthan's amazing kathputli(puppet) which, made India one of the first countries to invent its traditional puppetry shows. History believes that folk tales conveyed the lifestyle of ancient Rajasthani tribal people and Kathputli puppet art. Rajasthan's Kings were patrons of singing, folk dance, Art and Craft and they encouraged the craftsmen in activities ranging from wood and marble carving to weaving, pottery and painting with the use of their surrouding natural resources. Over the last 500 to 800 years, Kathputli was a system of patronage supported by kings families. The patrons would look after these artists in return for the artists singing praises of the patrons’ ancestors. so, the Bhat community claim that their ancestors had performed for royal families of Rajasthan, and received great honour, royal gifts and prestige from the rulers of Rajasthan.
Tribes of Rajasthan-India have been performing this(kathputli)puppet art from the ancient times and it has become an eternal part of Rajasthan's culture, tradition and day to day life. No village fun fair, No religious festival and no social gathering in Rajasthan can be complete without the Kathputlis(puppet shows). People believed that somewhere 1500 years ago, tribal Rajasthani Bhat community started playing with it, Later the use of Kathputli as strings marionette art and it is their love for culture and tradition that art of Kathputli survived from the thousands of years. Its kind of the test of time.