The Mind Creative March 2014
Puppets, puppetry and puppeteers
have a long history dating back
nearly 2000 years and which can be
traced to India, China, Egypt and
Greece. There are indications
(including pictorial evidences) of
articulated and jointed deities in
ancient Egyptian literature that show
an existence of puppets. Small
puppet like figures have been found
in Greek and Roman tombs while
Greek literature dating back to 5th
century BC have references to the
use of puppets. In fact, there is
evidence to suggest that stringoperated wooded figures were
manipulated in ancient Egypt to
perform the action of kneading bread
and Egyptian tombs have yielded
ivory and clay wire controlled
puppets. Archaeologists in India
have retrieved one terra cotta doll
with string manipulated detachable
head dating back to the Indus Valley
Civilisation that flourished 2500
years BC!
Ancient Egyptian puppet
Courtesy: Project Object Retrieval
Ancient Egyptian puppet
Courtesy: LIFE
Ancient epics and texts from
India
also
have
several
references to puppets. While
puppetry in ancient Java evolved
based on influences from India,
China has cultivated this art
(specially with shadow and stick
puppets) since the last 2000
years.
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