ETV launches Panchatantra; uses puppetry to woo viewers

Panchatantra, a series that celebrates the abiding relevance of India's most famous tales of wisdom, began its inaugural run on ETV-Network recently.

The weekly programme can be watched every Sunday at 10:30 am on ETV-Madhya Pradesh, ETV-Uttar Pradesh, ETV-Bihar, ETV-Rajasthan, ETV-Oriya, ETV-Gujarati, ETV-Kannada and ETV-Marathi. On ETV-Bangla, Panchatantra will be telecast every Sunday at 9:30 am.

ETV's presentation of Panchatantra is unique because the ancient Indian art of puppetry has been used as the medium to relate the tales from the ageless compendium. Puppets for ETV's Panchatantra have been especially created by expert artisans. The disciplines employed for the series include rod puppetry (prevalent primarily in West Bengal and Orissa), string puppetry (Rajasthan, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Assam) and glove puppetry (Orissa and Kerala).

By uniting two of India's most valued cultural treasures - Panchatantra and puppetry - ETV Network tries to "remind the world about India's glorious artistic heritage", says a prepared note released by the company.