Bhopal. A puppet festival focusing on various styles of puppetry has been organised at the Tribal Folk Art and Dialect Development Academy, Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum, from 8th to 12th October, 2025, every day at 6.30 pm. On 8th October, 2025, artists of Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal-Udaipur presented the Kabuliwala/Ramayana Katha in the thread puppet style. The festival began with the lighting of lamps and welcoming the artists. During this, Director, Tribal Folk Art and Dialect Development Academy, Dr Dharmendra Pare, and artist Laik Hussain were present.
The Ramayana puppet play is a synopsis of events from the Ramayana. The play depicts Lord Rama marrying Sita in a swayamvara organized by King Janak and returning to Ayodhya. The residents of Ayodhya celebrate Rama’s coronation. Upon receiving the announcement, the Kaikeyi-Manthara dialogue, followed by Kaikeyi’s request for a fourteen-year exile for Lord Rama and a kingdom for Bharata, are enacted. To fulfill the promise, Lord Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita go into exile for fourteen years, and the Surpanakha episode. In the next scene, when Ravana, the king of Lanka, finds out, he deceitfully abducts Sita and proposes marriage. The search for Sita by Rama and Lakshmana, the search for Sita by Hanuman, and the battle between Lord Rama and Ravana are enacted.
The story of Kabuliwala is about an Afghan Pathan and his daughter, Mini. The Afghan Pathan travels to Calcutta every year to sell dried fruits. There, he develops a bond with a Bengali family. Seeing Mini, the family’s daughter, reminds him of his own daughter, who is the same age. The Bengali Babu’s wife disapproves of Mini and Kabuliwala’s friendship. When Kabuliwala goes to the merchant to ask for the dry fruits he had given him before returning to his country, the merchant refuses to pay. An argument escalates, and the merchant murders the merchant. He is sentenced to prison for murder. While serving a ten-year sentence, he remembers his family.
Upon returning to Afghanistan after completing his sentence, he expresses his desire to meet Mini, the daughter of a Bengali family. Mini is now grown up and preparations are underway for her wedding. Kabuliwala pleads with the Bengali family to let him meet Mini once and informs them that he has a daughter who looks exactly like Mini. The Bengali family, taking pity on Kabuliwala, pays half the cost of Mini’s wedding for his daughter. Reliving memories from ten years ago, Kabuliwala and Mini embrace and cry. Kabuliwala leaves for his homeland.
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