Abstract
Tholu Bommalu are typical leather puppets of the traditional Indian shadow theatre. Two of these objects are part of a collection in the International Puppets Museum “Antonio Pasqualino” (Palermo, Sicily, Italy), which can count on one hundred-seventy-three of artifacts. These Indian puppets were investigated to obtain information related to the use of dyes for their manufacturing through a multi-technical approach exploiting the combination of highly sensitive spectroscopic techniques. Wet cotton stubbons were used to entrap small particles of dyes on the fibers from the art objects for the consequent analyses. Visible Light Micro-Reflectance spectroscopy was employed for the preliminary identification of the molecular class of dyes directly on the swabs, while Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering allowed the identification of the specific dye. Several synthetic dyes belonging to different typologies of coloring compounds were identified. The study resulted in an interesting overview of dyes used in recent Tholu Bommalata manufacturing through the combination of micro-invasive techniques directly on the sampling substrate.
Highlights
Tholu Bommalata is the traditional shadow theatre of the Telugu Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka
Sample D816-4, which derives from a pink-reddish area, presents a characteristic reflectance spectrum (Figure S1a, Supplementary Materials) where a first weak maximum is visible at 466 nm, followed by an increase of reflectance starting at 540 nm; the sigmoid curve presents a marked inflection point at 581 nm, while another one is observable at 690 to 695 nm
A whole spectroscopic approach involving FORS and Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) spectroscopies was employed in order to identify different synthetic dyes used for the manufacturing of Tholu Bommalu leather puppets from the 1970s
Summary
Tholu Bommalata is the traditional shadow theatre of the Telugu Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. Dolls can be moved from anyone, but only a skillful sutradhar (literally “wire mover”) can give them life. He is the leader of a familiar-run troupe, where everyone has a specific role: dancer, singer, narrator, and actor [4]. In all the Indian traditional puppet theatres, Tholu Bommalu are the biggest ones (120–180 cm height), and those with the highest mobility have joints along the neck, arms, and legs [5]. Dolls are charged with an enormous spiritual value They are made of leather, an impure material for Indians, and, they need a purification rite to represent sacred characters: several weeks before the performance, plenty of rituals are made to offer the puppets to Gods. Tholu Bommalata is a kind of dying art: fifty years ago, more than 180 troupes were active in 30 different Indian districts; today there are only 9
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