Written by:- Pulkit sood
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This artist from Gujarat flatly refused the President's offer to receive the Padma award while seated in a wheelchair. After all, what exactly did they do to turn their modest home into a school for artists from all over the world? He is Gujrat’s famous puppet artist Mahipat Kavi. The most remarkable aspect of their story is that they did not limit the art of puppetry merely to children's play or entertainment; instead, they used it to raise public awareness against social evils such as the dowry system, superstition, and the denial of education to daughters. He has done more than 500 shows on these things. There was such vitality in their art that artists from abroad used to come to them to learn it.
And he used to teach the art of puppetry to those foreigners without charging any money.
We pay tribute to the one who breathed life into lifeless wooden puppets and took the ancient art of puppetry to foreign lands. Unfortunately he is not with us now. He died on April 25,2026 at the age of 96.
