RAS question
The Kathputli puppet tradition of Rajasthan is primarily associated with which community?
Correct answer: (B) Bhat community.
Rajasthan's Kathputli string-puppet tradition is primarily associated with the Bhat community, also known in this tradition as Nat Bhats.
Explanation
The National Crafts Museum catalogue identifies a String Puppet (Kathputli) from Rajasthan and lists its contributor community as Bhat. Its significance note says Kathputli is a string-puppet performance made and performed by the Bhat community of Rajasthan, who carry forward puppetry as a traditional profession. This matches the RAS fact: Kathputli is the wooden, legless string-puppet tradition linked with Nagaur in Rajasthan, with puppets made of wood and cloth and controlled by strings. Traditional performances commonly presented Amar Singh Rathore and other Rajput heroic stories, so the community association is not a generic artisan label; it is tied to performance practice and hereditary transmission. Therefore, Bhat/Nat Bhat is the exam-safe answer.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Manganiyar community is associated with folk music, while the cited Kathputli source identifies the puppetry tradition's contributor community as Bhat.
- (C) Meghwal artisans are linked with embroidery and leather crafts, not with the Kathputli string-puppet performance tradition.
- (D) The Kalbeliya community is associated with snake-charming and Kalbeliya dance, not with the Bhat-led Kathputli tradition.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan art and culture: matching folk performance traditions with the communities that sustain them. RAS repeats such questions because community-art links are standard markers in state culture, tourism and heritage topics.