This form of story telling brings together two art forms
A performance by Puranam Ramesh
Puranam Ramesh has a great responsibility on his shoulders. He’s among the last of the Kunapuli community who specialises in a unique story telling method, which is centuries old.
And this is where artist Laxman Aelay has stepped in — part of a revival attempt. What started as a research for his PhD, took Aelay back in time.
“Fours years ago, I visited the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art where I spotted a 30-40-foot Nakashi scroll dating back to 1625. When I researched about it, I found that Nakashi scrolls had their own story,” he explains.
Traditionally, members of the Kunapuli community would go from village to village with stories from the Markandeya Purana. “These story tellers would go to the Nakashi artists who belonged to a different community. The artists would paint scenes from the Markandeya Purana on handmade cotton fabric. The story tellers would then pick up the scrolls and go about their work,” says Aelay.
He has managed to piece together information about this story-telling community. “When I started looking for information I found that there was nothing available. I had to run around and it was then that I met the only performer, Ramesh. From him, I got more information about other families who were in the same business.”
l A still from the documentary, Patam Katha, by Laxman Aelay
This form of story telling brings together two art forms. “The Nakashi artwork dates back centuries. Each scroll was 30-40 ft and during the story-telling performance the artistes keep rolling the scroll as the story unfolded,” explains Aelay adding, “The Nakashi artists have adapted well. Initially they would recreate mythology tales but now they have also shifted to contemporary art pieces.”
While the Nakashi art form is still thriving, because of how they have adapted to the changing times, the Kunapulis haven’t been that lucky. In the documentary Patam Katha, which is directed by Laxman Aelay with the help of the Department of Culture and Language, Government of Telangana, he traces the history of this age-old tradition. “Back in the days there was no other form of entertainment. These story-tellers were very famous and were quite rich, but now they live in poverty,” he says.
Most of the people in the community hardly earn any money from their performances and most of them do small businesses.
“Through our documentary we want to create awareness for this dying art form. We plan to host more events and get them some exposure,” says Aelay, who plans to take his documentary film on caste genealogy to various competitions.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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