Tholu Bommalata, the Leather Shadow Puppets of Andhra

The story

Tholu Bommalata — literally 'the dance of leather dolls' in Telugu — is among India's oldest surviving shadow-puppet traditions, performed for centuries across Andhra Pradesh by itinerant troupes of the Aryakshatriya community. Its heartland today is Nimmalakunta, a village in Anantapur district where puppet-making remains a living household craft. The puppets themselves are extraordinary objects: figures cut from translucent goat or deer hide, often approaching human size, jointed at the shoulders, elbows and waist so they gesture and stride when worked behind a backlit cotton screen. Painted in saturated reds, greens, yellows and blacks and pierced with fine perforations, they throw glowing, jewel-coloured shadows — the perforations becoming ornaments, crowns and textile patterns in light. A night's performance traditionally unfolds an episode of the Ramayana or Mahabharata, carried by song, percussion and sharp comic interludes from stock characters. As village audiences for all-night theatre thinned, the artisans turned the same hide, dye and perforation work toward lampshades, wall panels and door hangings — objects that glow exactly as the puppets do on screen. The craft's name and origin are now protected by a Geographical Indication.

How it is made

Goat or deer hide is cleaned, scraped of hair and flesh, stretched, and dried until it turns stiff and translucent — thin enough for lamplight to pass through. The figure is drawn on the prepared hide and cut out, with limbs cut separately for jointing. Detail comes from two hands-on processes: perforation, in which patterns are punched through the hide with chisels and awls so light streams through as ornament, and dyeing, traditionally with natural colours that stain the translucent skin like stained glass — deep red for valour, greens and yellows for divine and courtly figures. Limbs are joined with knotted cord, and split-bamboo rods are fixed for manipulation. A large epic character can take weeks of cutting, punching and painting.

Buying guide

Hold the piece to light: genuine tholu work is translucent, with colour that glows rather than sits on the surface, and perforations punched cleanly through the hide. Look for hand-cut edges, cord-knotted joints on articulated figures, and slight natural variation in the hide's thickness — printed imitations on plastic sheet are uniform and opaque. Small figures and lampshades typically start around ₹800; large jointed epic characters and elaborate wall pieces range up to ₹40,000.

Care

Keep leather puppets away from damp, which softens and warps the hide, and from prolonged direct sunlight, which fades the dyes. Dust gently with a soft dry brush; never wash. Frame wall pieces or hang them clear of kitchen humidity. If a figure curls slightly in dry heat, flattening it under light weight overnight is usually enough.

Frequently asked questions