Unique shadow puppet theatre gaining popularity

After a lull in the viewership of "Tol Pavakoothu", the unique shadow puppet theatre form of Kerala, the popularity of the oldest art form is picking up, according to a leading artiste.
The art, a slow paced leather puppet shadow play of Ramayana, which was very popular once, might have lost patronage due to constraints of time and fast paced modern life.
The demand for the this art form is gaining due to the support, including scholarships, it was getting from the Centre and state governments, M Lakshmana Pulavar, a renowned Tol Pavakoothu artiste, told PTI.
The popularity of television programmes and cinema had to a certain extent led to lack of patronage for this art, which was held only at 'Koothumadams' (exclusive halls built for the show), he said.

Confined to the koothumadams of Bhagavathy temples, once, this ancient ritualistic shadow theatre that uses leather puppets to invoke epic characters live on stage, is slowly moving to the public domain.
Tol Pavakoothu, with its origin in Bhagavati temples in Palakkad district, is an ancient ritualistic art form worshipped by the people of Kerala as the Mother Goddess. The play is performed from January to May at Koothumadam.
The play traditionally enacts Kamba Ramayana, a Tamil epic written by Kamban in the 12th century based on Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit, describing Rama's life using a dialect of Tamil, with an admixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam.

Tradition has it that the Koothu was enacted to entertain the mother Goddess. The plays are staged between 10 PM and 4 AM and go on from 16 to 41 days.