CHILDREN’S WORLD

This programme aims at acquainting children with some aspects of India’s traditional art heritage through puppetry, theatrical presentations, puzzles and games and such other areas which are generally not included in school curricula.

The following activities have been carried out:

Research on puppetry (shadow puppets, marionettes or string puppets, rod and glove puppets) was initiated towards the end of 1989; multilingual bibliography of shadow puppets has been completed. A data base for the bibliography is being developed on the subject. While involving the traditional puppeteers in this programme, some contemporary themes have been introduced. For instance, the themes associated with the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Puppeteers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnatakas, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar and Orissa have been involved in this experiment. The show on Bapu has been taken to remote places all over India. Several workshops have been held both for the children and the traditional puppeteers. Two story books on Gandhi’s thoughts for children have been published in Hindi and Gujaratili