Museu da Marioneta

The first puppets most probably appeared in Asia. Their cradle was certainly India and China, but soon expanded throughout the whole Asian continent on the footsteps of the Hindu expansionism and – same wise – the growth of Buddhism. In every place they set roots they acquired different features, and this is particularly evident in Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam.
Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma) also have a large tradition on puppet theatre. The Ramayana epic, like the Mahabharata, strongly influenced the cultural traditions of different countries in Southeast Asia; their heroes are references and their behaviour is a model to kings, lords and regular folk.

The Ramayana – a compilation of oral and literary traditions written in Sanskrit, usually attributed to the poet Valmiki – is a seven book long poem with 25,000 verses divided into seventy chapters. It most probably dates from the 4th and 3rd century B.C.
The Ramayana tells the story of Prince Rama and his lover Sita, who was kidnapped by Ravana, Lord of Lanka Island. In poetic language this story may be the description of the conquest of Ceylon Island – nowadays named Sri Lanka again – by the Caucasian Arians, and the assimilation to the new lords and gods of the Dravidian people from the Indian Sub-continent.

Mahabharata – the greatest Indian epic with approximately 74,000 verses divided into 18 Parvas (books or chapters), usually attributed to Vyasa – is the most important source for the classic Indian civilisation and Hinduism. Despite its many minor parallel plots, it is mainly an account of the great civil war of the Kingdom of Kurukshetra – the surrounding area of modern Delhi in the 9th century B.C.
Dhrirashtra was supposed to become King of Kurukshetra but he was blind. He was forced to hand the throne to his younger brother, Pandu, who becomes an eremite and later King Dhitarashtra. The Mahabharata tells the story of the wars between the five children of Pandu – the Pandavas – and the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra – the Kauravas – who were defeated by the Pandavas with the help of Krishna.
This work is indeed a moral behaviour and spiritual development code encompassing all the principles of Hinduism.