The dance of mighty toys - Butta Bommalu FolkDance (Andhra Pradesh)

We all have know this renowned Tollywood song “Butta Bomma Butta Bomma”. What exactly is Butta Bomma? What’s the story behind involving giant toys in dance?

Once upon a time, a man named Malliah visited the Mysuru Dasara. He was awe struck by the splendid beauty of the puppets and toys. He decided to learn how to make them and passed on that knowledge to his son, Katta Suryanarayana of Tanuku. This is how puppetry was introduced in West Godavari District. Since then, it became a popular occupation around those areas. It slowly evolved into toy dance as well. Some claim the name of the dance came from Tarak Sena, who had been a demon king of Tanuku. Others claim it came from Butta Bommalu’s dance attire. It’s also called Mask dance. The dance form originated in Tanuku, west Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. The attire is what is mesmerising when it comes to this art form. The Butta Bommalu Dance literally means basket toys made of wood husks, cow dung and dry grass. The costumes are toy-like with colourful paints. A lot of processing goes into the making of the costumes. It’s made of

bamboo to keep it light weighted. The dolls are made open at the bottom for the dancer to be able to slip into them. Dancers wear a costume on their head, shoulder, and waist. The costumes of mythological characters and Hindu gods are worn. It doesn’t require much practice or rigorous training. It involves simple movements. The dancers do not sing or speak in the dance drama. And there is no particular music for this art form. Performers dance to the beat of Dappu. It’s a percussion instrument made of animal skin. This

dance is very popular among children as the huge dancing toys attract them. It’s performed in festivals like Navratri, Ram Navami etc. People wear the costumes in accordance with the festivals.

Butta Bommalu is a very simple and minimalistic art form. It doesn’t involve much rules, intricate aspects or fancy instruments. It was a very pocket friendly source of entertainment for people in the villages in the earlier time. The entrancing part is that, an entire art form evolved out of toys and gained recognition among the people. India is so diverse because of such little things. Our history dates back to thousands of years. Irrespective of caste, creed, status etc; each person has a taste for art and they’ve succeeded in showing it, building it and preserving it over all these years. In our country, every art form; small or big, is

accepted as it is.

- Chinmayi Shastry R