Being and Becoming, Person and Persona

The Bhat community is one of many performing communities found throughout India and even Rajasthan (Jairazbhoy, 2007; Sababni, 2024). Performing communities in India have historically been regarded as lower status, a social positioning that has had enduring effects into the present, including for the Bhats (Jairazbhoy, 2007; Snodgrass, 2006). As bards acting within a system of patronage, their status is additionally coupled with the status of the patrons they serve (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). This helps to explain why many Kathputli Bhat members often claim various royal connections, particularly being the descendants of bards who served royal patrons (Snodgrass, 2006; Chopra et al., 2023), when in reality, most Bhats are the clients of the Bhambi community, a community of leather workers, also considered low status (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). The claims of royal connections, however, serve the purpose of improving their social standing (Snodgrass, 2006).

These claims of royal connections demonstrate a perception of identity as something to be constructed and lived, rather than something inherent or fixed. The latter perception of identity abounds particularly in the case of the caste system in India, which many regard as fixed and unchanging (Snodgrass, 2006). On the contrary, however, Indian history and modernity alike are littered with examples of different communities redefining themselves and their position in society in terms of caste with varying degrees of success (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). Certainly, it is true that caste and other forms of social stratification pervade various aspects of social life, restricting one’s ability to do this (Snodgrass, 2006; Banerji, 2019); in particular, many in the Bhat community experience significant poverty, live in informal tent communities with constant risk of displacement, and have low levels of literacy, severely limiting the opportunities available to them (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007; DuPont & Gowda, 2021). Despite this, a commonly expressed belief in Bhat communities is in the fluidity and subjectivity of identity and social status. For example, one retelling of a myth related to the origins of caste hierarchies by a member of the Bhat community defies more rigid portrayal of hierarchy and instead depicts hierarchy, and one’s position within it, as something to be debated, argued, and negotiated (Snodgrass, 2006). Critically, in this retelling, the Bhat triumphs over all other castes, asserting the importance of language, over which the Bhat has mastery, in such a debate (2006).

Crucial to understand this perspective is, again, Kathputli Bhats’ traditional occupations as bards and genealogists. As it is their job to preserve and tell stories about the past, including about the histories and lineages of their patron communities, they are endowed with a particular kind of power and influence: the power to construct narratives about different individuals and groups, and thus shape their reputation (Snodgrass, 2006). Just as a bard may tell stories that praise and elevate the standing of their subjects, they may also tell stories that condemn and insult and lower the standing of their subjects (Snodgrass, 2006). Indeed, the latter is something that Bhats can and have done to individuals or groups they feel have wronged them, insulting them in various ways (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). One common tactic, perhaps particularly relevant to their more recent occupations as puppeteers, is through the use of lolars or putlis, wooden effigies that depict a frail, skinny man, representing the Bhats themselves and the toll that their target’s wrongdoing has had on them (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). Bhats will then parade this effigy around the village of their target, insulting and shaming their target for their misdeeds (Snodgrass, 2006; Jairazbhoy, 2007). 

Thus, it is clear why many in the Bhat community understand identity as something dynamic and constructed; they have historically played a critical role in the construction process within their communities. Their abilities as storytellers allow them to redefine their position in society, rejecting projections of lower status and even flipping established power dynamics (Snodgrass, 2006). In doing so, many have been able to find great success, either in puppetry or in other fields. For instance, while many Kathputli Bhats are not, in fact, the descendants of royal bards, they are certainly very well versed in the oral and poetic traditions of Rajasthan, a fact which they have been able to use to their advantage to obtain more illustrious and profitable positions; in fact, on more than one occasion, by presenting themselves as bards for noble patrons, they end up actually acting as bards for noble patrons in reality (Snodgrass, 2006).

The connections that Kathputli Bhats are able to forge with higher status individuals has allowed them to find work in the tourism and cultural sectors in cities such as Udaipur (Snodgrass, 2006). Click on the point in the Neatline map below (again showing the Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal museum), to see a performance at the museum, further testament to the successes Bhat puppeteers have created for themselves in these sectors.

The Kathputli performances themselves constitute another way in which Bhat puppeteers are able to demonstrate the dynamic, constructed, and fluid nature of identity and status. For instance, the reversal of power dynamics discussed above is enacted quite literally in the puppeteer’s manipulation of royal characters. Finally, the puppets are dressed and painted in such a way as to convey information about the character’s gender, status, religion, and even function in the story (Chopra et al., 2023; Jairazbhoy, 2007). Significantly, none of these features are intrinsic to the puppet themselves. In fact, at the point when the head of the puppet is carved, there is nothing to distinguish status, religion, gender, or any other feature; it is only when it is decorated and manipulated, processes which allow for people to communicate and perceive meaningful information, that these features become identified (Chopra et al., 2023). Thus, the puppet only occupies the identities and roles it does (including animation) due to its interactions with the puppeteer and the audience, in much the same way that human beings come to inhabit certain identities through their interactions with others.