rukada (String Puppet)

About this object

History of use

Lifelike in appearance, the striking rukada (string puppets) of Sri Lanka perform stories about ritual practices and everyday life. There is no scripted play, the puppeteers improvise in their storytelling. The characters, in dress, gesture, and action, express social hierarchies and gender roles: the king and the prince; the politician and the village headman; the policeman and the servant boy; and a family of farmers (Farmer, son, wife, daughter). There are also character archetypes such as the sanmi (disease) demon dancer, emaciated beggar with elephantiasis, and jesters in colourful costumes who comically announce the beginning and end of the show (from Shadows, Strings & Other Things, 2019).

Physical description

Three-dimensional female puppet representing the mother of a farmer family. Head with fibrous blue dyed hair pulled into a bun (part b) fits into body clothed in a patterned green and white shirt and a floral, blue, full-length skirt (part a). The body has jointed arms and legs. Figure has a light orange-brown face with black painted eyebrows, eyes, protruding ears, and a smiling red mouth with teeth. Figure has bare feet and pink hands; one open, one closed. Puppet is attached to several thin black cords tied to a plain wooden stick.