Dancing Puppets and Whispering Woods: The Living Soul of Chadar Badar

Introduction: Where Puppets Tell the People’s Stories

Deep in the heart of a quiet Santhal village, where forests move to the rhythm of tribal drumming, song and behind the curtain, the little wooden puppets come to life. They dance, fight, fall in love and teach lessons, all without uttering a word of their own. This is Chadar Badar – or Chadar Badhni – one of the rich traditions of string puppetry, handed down through generations, among the Santhal tribe.

This is not a spectacle with big lights and costumes and sets. But in all of its beauty and simplicity, Chadar Badar has a deeper meaning: the voice of a people. And while it is humble in its preparations, Chadar Badar exists with the weight of story, history and of identity, capturing the creativity of the people who have learned to tell their stories and preserve them without writing them down. Today, as we leap to an inevitable digital future, these dancing puppets remind us that some of the best stories form in whispers against a curtain, created from just wood, string and drum.

Origin: A Tribal Thread Through Time

Chadar Badar has its roots in the deep, Santhal oral tradition, that has been preserved over generations of rural villages which bridge the districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Purba Bardhhaman and Uttar Dinajpur of West Bengal along with some more states which includes Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar. The very term “Chadar Badar” is derived from the form of the performance. The word “chadar”, meaning curtain, which hides the small stage while “badar” means movement or bustle behind the curtain.

The puppets, generally between seven to nine inches tall, are made from lightweight wood, dressed in traditional tribal attire as well as with props like drums, which are also made of wood and coloured with proper care. Then they are animated using small sticks to be articulated and strings to be controlled from below.

There are primarily two types of puppets, drummers (male) and dancers (female). When the puppeteer pulls the string, the arms of the male puppets move to depict the beating of the instruments like madal, while the female puppets tilts forward and backward like a dancing posture, with their heads and arms in motion.

In every show, the puppets are organised in a specific way. A line of female puppets is lined in front of the line of male puppets. In the middle, there is a male puppet, called Rashik, who is always in a trance-like state and dancing.

Unlike the other Indian puppet traditions that draws from the grand epics of Ramayana or Mahabharata the stories of Chadar Badar are intensely local. They reflect Santhal life and beliefs, with stories of heroic ancestors, animal mischief and mythical clashes between good and evil. Chadar Badar performances were historically an entertainment medium but also a medium to educate social learning in the Santhal community. Connecting moral guidance and history into stories; it promoted a sense of community learning and cultural identity. This art modality is said to be centuries old, although no document specifies the timeline as it has been evolved in isolated forest communities where oral storytelling was the principal medium of historical record and cultural continuity.

How It Flourished: A Community’s Stage

Traditionally, Chadar Badar wasn’t performed for fame or money. It was part of the rhythm of Santhal life. During harvest festivals and religious rituals like Dasae (Durga Dashami), Sohrai and Charok or big family gatherings, the puppeteer, usually an elder with nimble fingers and a gift for storytelling, would set up a small wooden box with a cloth over it and begin.

The performance had no big lights or props. Just the puppeteer, his song, the puppets, rhythmic beats of the accompanying music, which comprises of the ‘banam’( bowed string instrument), the ‘tirenya’(a flute), and the ‘madal’ (drum) and an audience, spellbound under the open sky. The stories were told in Santhali, the native language of the tribe.

This form of string puppetry is an blend of indigenous craftsmanship and technology. The puppets are tied with strings, which through a master string are tied to the feet of the puppeteer, who operates and makes the puppets dance to the tunes. The puppets are attached to a central lever, moving which makes the puppets’ hands and feet move.

As time went on, Chadar Badar performances began to expand beyond their ritual roots. Puppeteers started weaving in newer themes like local politics and social injustice, using the puppets as a medium to make people think, not just entertain.

Variations of Chadar Badar: Two Distinct Stages, One Beating Heart

Like the varied dialects of a single language, Chadar Badar puppetry has developed slightly differently in the districts where it has taken roots. ​While its essence remains unchanged—a team of wooden puppets dancing behind a curtain to the beat of the tribal drums— the stage they performed on also, literally, told its own story.

The Square Stage: Stories in a Frame

In Uttar Dinajpur, Chadar Badar unfolds within a square wooden box, like a miniature stage framed with care. The setup is clean and compact, allowing puppets to move with precise rhythm.

The Dome Stage: A Circle of Spirit

In Birbhum, Bankura or Purba Bardhhaman, Chadar Badar takes a round, dome-shaped form, soft and fluid, like tribal songs in motion. This spherical stage is more famous than the square shaped one. The curveness gives a sense of openness and performances feel more dynamic and festive.

 In Popular Culture: In The Verge of Extinction

Chadar Badar is whole-heartedly searching a way to be in the spotlight again. Sadly, this art form faces a very real threat of extinction. The intricate mechanics require a high level of skill and knowledge, traditionally passed down through generations. However, the changing times have interrupted this transmission of knowledge.

On the other hand, cultural festivals in Bengal and Jharkhand occasionally invite puppeteers to perform, and slowly, people in cities are beginning to notice. This art form first gained mainstream awareness in 1985 with the untiring efforts of cultural ethnographer, Ravikant Dwivedi. With his efforts, the art form has been given a voice to spread through wider audience. He has also conducted training programs to introduce new generations to this unique art form. These programs have offered a lifeline to Chadar Badar and hopefully it guarantees longevity for years to come. But based on the amount of awareness or importance given in relation to the fame of a Rajasthani Kathputli or Tamil Bommalattam, it remains cloaked in obscurity, waiting to be viewed from closer perspective.

 Current Status: A Fading Art Form

Currently, Chadar Badar is at a high risk of fading away. Many puppeteers have no one to pass their skills on to. Television and smartphones have taken over village evenings, and younger Santhals begun moving to cities for work, leaving the puppets behind.

Today, a small but passionate group of artists is keeping Chadar Badar alive. They perform at cultural festivals, teach at some workshops and sometimes use the internet to reach newer audiences. The flame is flickering, but there is a hope that it will shine again like it had once done, may be some decades ago.

Conclusion: Strings That Still Sing

Chadar Badar isn’t just a puppet show. It’s a window into a world where stories live on wood and string, where wisdom is sung instead of being written, and where art grows from the soil of community life. In a fast-moving world that often forgets its roots, this quiet tribal tradition is a reminder of how powerful local culture can be.

It’s not grand or glamorous. But it’s real. It’s alive. And it still has stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.

As the curtain lifts and the puppets begin their dance, they carry with them the dreams, laughter, and struggles of an entire people. We owe it to them and to ourselves, to keep watching, keep learning and keep those strings moving.

REFERENCE:

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

1. Banerjee, Sudeshna, “Dancing Dolls In A Box”, The Telegraph, April 5, 2015. https://share.google/jIdbh26QDdf5XInWA

2. Bhattacharya, Shreeja, “50-yr-old Puppets That Can’t be Recreated: The Story of Dying Santhali Art & its ‘Last Custodians’ in Bengal”, News 18 Bangla, July 10, 2022. https://www.news18.com/news/india/50-yr-old-puppets-that-cant-be-recreated-the-story-of-dying-santhali-art-its-last-custodians-in-bengal-5510473.html

3. Ganguly, M., “Tug At Heartstrings of tribal heritage – Obscure Santhal puppetry Chadar Badar gets new lease of life”, The Telegraph, January 7, 2011. https://www.telegraphindia.com/jharkhand/tug-at-heartstrings-of-tribal-heritage-obscure-santhal-puppetry-chadar-badar-gets-new-lease-of-life/cid/440048

4. Khator, Smita, “Santhal Porobe Chadar Bandhani Putul Nach”, Rural India Online, July 21, 2023. https://ruralindiaonline.org/article/chadar-badni-puppets-at-santhal-festival-bn

5. Majumder, Sohini, “Jege Thake Eka Banam Sundari”, Anandabazar Patrika, October 2, 2022. https://www.anandabazar.com/rabibashoriyo/the-last-artist-of-chadar-badar-puppet-dance/cid/1374280

6. Sarkar, Vaaswat, “Chadar Badar: The Santhal’s Indigenous Puppet Art Is A Dance Of Strings And Storytelling”, Homegrown, May 13, 2024.  https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-creators/chadar-badar-the-santhals-indigenous-puppet-art-is-a-dance-of-strings-storytelling

7. Singh, Shiv Sahay, “A Dying Art Form That Tells The Santhal Story”, The Hindu, March 20, 2015. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/a-dying-art-form-that-tells-the-santhal-story/article7016199.ece

WEB PAGE

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3. Google Arts and Culture. “Chadar Badar- Santhal Storytelling Tradition”. Last Accessed July 03, 2025.  https://artsandculture.google.com/story/chadar-badar-santhal-storytelling-tradition-banglanatak/4QWxZXsL60vBlg?hl=en

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