kathaputalee (Hand Puppet)

One of the puppet characters used to illustrate stories from the Ramayana.

Margaret and David Murdoch spent the years 1966-68 in Palaani, Rajastan, while David was teaching math at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science. While there, they attended a nearby Ram Lila performance. Afterward, Margaret went to Delhi and commissioned this set of puppets to illustrate the Ramayana (1610/1-2, 6, 9-10, Ef502-7).

Hand puppet depicting a man-monkey figure (Hanuman) with a red face and hands, and a light red vest and skirt with metallic edging and a red lining. The character has black hair and facial hair with white teeth and decoration of lines and dots on its forehead. The figure has an upward curving tail made of the same material as the vest and skirt with a ball at the tip.