Puppetry in Rajasthan is one of the oldest and most expressive forms of storytelling. At Arna-Jharna: The Desert Museum of Rajasthan, the puppetry collection presents this living tradition through puppets, stage materials, and narratives that continue to travel across the desert’s villages and towns.

The Collection

The display includes traditional wooden puppets (kathputlis), costumes, strings, and miniature stage setups used by puppeteers in performances. Each puppet – whether a king, queen, dancer, or clown – is carved and painted by hand, carrying distinct regional styles and character details.

Accompanying photographs and field notes describe how puppeteers, often belonging to hereditary performer families, maintain their art through storytelling, music, and visual expression. Many of these families still perform across Rajasthan, adapting their tales to new audiences while keeping older story cycles alive.

Stories and Performance

Rajasthani puppetry is both entertainment and social record. The performances often retell local legends, folk tales, and episodes from epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Music plays a central role – songs are sung to the rhythm of instruments like the dholak and sarangi, with dialogues improvised to engage the audience. Through humour, satire, and pathos, puppetry continues to reflect community life, social issues, and shared values.

Making the Puppets

Each puppet is crafted from local wood and cloth, painted with natural colours, and joined with cotton strings that allow precise, fluid movement. The process combines carpentry, painting, costume design, and storytelling – often carried out within families where the same hands that carve the puppets also perform with them.

The kathputli tradition is deeply collaborative: puppet makers, musicians, and storytellers often belong to interdependent communities that travel together, performing in courtyards, fairs, and village squares.

Puppetry at the Museum

At Arna-Jharna, puppetry is not only a display but also a living practice. The museum periodically hosts live performances by local puppeteers, offering visitors a chance to experience how music, movement, and dialogue come together in this traditional art form.

Workshops and group sessions can also be arranged with prior notice, where visitors can learn about puppet-making techniques, manipulation, and narrative structure. These activities help connect audiences with the craft and its continuing relevance today.

A Living Heritage

Puppetry at Arna-Jharna represents more than performance – it reflects the continuity of oral storytelling, craftsmanship, and imagination. Even as modern entertainment changes, the puppets of Rajasthan remain voices of memory – carrying forward humour, wisdom, and the rhythms of everyday life in the desert.