LUMA : Festival of light brings the renowned shadow puppeteer Sindhe Chithambara Rao and his team of eight performers and musicians all the way from the district of Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh. He has achieved national awards as one of the finest artisans practicing this dying craft.

He has not only performed all over India, but also in several countries including United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Egypt, and Oman. He has been practicing this art form for over 35 years, coming from a lineage of shadow puppeteers. The art of shadow puppetry originates from the North Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh region and has been a major form of story telling, dating back to the 12th century.

The large, life-size puppets are made using goat hide and detailed with careful hand-cut precision to re-create lesser known stories from the Ramayana. The puppets are coloured using natural pigments, following a traditional palette of red, green, black & yellow. While earlier castor oil lamps and kerosene lanterns were used to light up performances held in the courtyard of the village temple or in the central square, it is bulbs that light up the stage now. 

This month, we have the privilege of hosting the master craftsman Sindhe Chithambara Rao for a full two hour performance on the Diwali weekend. 

5pm onwards- Puppet Making Workshop

7pm onwards- Shadow Puppetry Performance by Sindhe Chithambara Rao