Vizag Art & Culture - A rich tradition struggles to cut itself short

Narration of Sundarakanda in Tholubommalata tradition would take three days of six hours each day, but today we are asked to complete the narrative in one session and in fact organiser once asked us to wrap it up in half-an-hour, says Rekanar Hanumantha Rao of Sri Kanakadurga Tholubommalata Brundam from Guntur district.

In the city to narrate Sundarakandam in a session at the Kalabharati auditorium here on Tuesday, the troupe of eight members from four families from the Yekkavanipalem near Narsaraopet in Guntur district, Hanumantha Rao along with his brother Kotilingam and first cousin Kotilingam, spoke to The Hindu on the travails of a rich tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

“We have been changing with the times, otherwise it is impossible to complete the entire Sundarakandam in one session,” Hanumantha Rao said.

“We used to work on a background screen of 16 muras or spans and today it has come down to six, about a third of the original length. Earlier, our vigraham (puppet) would be around six feet tall today it is about four feet. We cannot scale it down further as it has to be visible to the audience,” his brother Kotilingam said.

“Each puppet requires three months of hard work by a team. It takes more than three persons to scrape off the hair and the fat from the goatskin and stretch it to make it translucent. Then we have to prepare the colours. We etch the designs on the skin using a modified nail knife and once the designs are finalised we fill it up with colour. That stays on for ages unless it gets damaged due to water or fire,” R Kotilingam said.

“This is our way of life and we cannot give it up, we enjoy our performance. The dwindling patronage has pushed many families to leave the profession and earn a living doing some petty trades,” they said.

The troupe is one among the half a dozen that dot the landscape of the State.

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