‘Classify Bommalattam as theatre,’ says puppeteer T.S. Murugan

Long before wooden puppetry (Bommalattam) became a recognised folk art form presented on stages in Tamil Nadu villages, it had already found a mention in Tamil literature. Among its earliest references are the Thirukkural couplets by Thiruvalluvar, who refers to wooden puppets (marappavai) as a powerful metaphor for life. In Kural 1,020, he says the actions of a man without modesty are like the movements of a wooden puppet operated with strings. He is as soulless as the puppet. In verse 1,058, he says that if there are no mendicants to seek charity, then the world will consist only of people who move like wooden marionettes. Such references point to the antiquity of wooden puppetry.