Folk Humour in Tholubommalata of Andhra Pradesh

The paper explores the elements of folk humour in tholubommalāta, the shadow puppetry performances of Andhra Pradesh.  Tholubommalata is a performatory tradition which uses leather puppets to project the performance of the epic, Ramayana. The paper is based on an oral performance of the Myravana Caritra from the Ranganatha Ramayanamu, one of the Rmayanas available in Telugu language. The performers  sing the epic theme in seven episodes lasting for about six to seven hours each. For this paper, the performance recorded on 31 December 2023 has been used as the basis. Mairavana is the maternal uncle to Ravana and is the ruler of Patala Lanka. Mairavana is also a magician in these performances. In this episode, Ravana seeks the help of Miaravana in his battle against Rama. Sri Rama’s army is protected by Hanuman’s large tail like a fortress. Ravana requests Mairavana to break through the protection and save his life. However, the paper studies folk tradition of humour in these performatory episodes in relation to the role of vidusaka in Sanskrit plays like Mrichakatikam and Mudra Rakshasa. The performatory tradition predates the Sanskrit plays. By the time Patanjali’s Mahabhashya (ca140 BC) was written, the practice of snowmen carrying pictures to narrate stories was prevalent in India. It would be interesting to comparatively study the vidūsaka of the Sanskrit drama with the comic characters of Bangarakka and Juttupoligadu to understand the nature of folk humour and its evolution in the Indian context.