Write the summary of the four puppets
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About the Story
In Burma—or Myanmar, as named by the current regime—puppet plays have been performed since at least the 1400s. In the 1700s, the royal court began to formally sponsor and regulate the puppet theater, causing it to quickly grow in prestige. In the 1800s, puppet theater was considered the most highly developed of the entertainment arts, and was also the most popular. Though no longer as popular today, the tradition is still maintained by a small number of performing troupes.
A Burmese puppet troupe includes puppet handlers, vocalists, and musicians. Plays are based on Buddhist fables, historical legends, and folktales, among other stories. The shows are performed for adults and children together, and typically last all night.
The puppets themselves are marionettes, ranging in height from about one to three feet. Nearly all are stock figures, changing their names but keeping their characteristics for each play. Some of these puppet types have been standard for centuries—especially those developed from Buddhist fables, which probably formed the puppeteers’ first repertoire.
The story retold here features four familiar figures. The king of the gods is Thagyarmin, the Burmese name for the deity called Sakka by Indian Buddhists and Indra by Hindus. (The rest of India’s heavenly gods—called devas—have been replaced by the Burmese with native gods called nats.) For Buddhists, a god is a powerful being still of lower rank than one who becomes a Buddha or Bodhisattva.
The figure here called an ogre is more accurately termed a demon—yaksha in Sanskrit. But with its great strength and its habit of eating people, it comes closer to the ogre in Western fairy mythology.
The sorcerer—zawgyi, in Burmese—is a survivor from pre‑Buddhist Burma. The zawgyi practices alchemy to attain immortal life, along with lesser attainments such as the power of flight. An almost exact parallel is in the Chinese popular concept of the Taoist “Immortal.” The “dance of the zawgyi” is one of the most popular portions of the puppeteers’ pre‑play warm‑up.
Finally, the hermit is a seeker who lives in solitude and strives for spiritual advancement. Though he is more characteristic of the Hindu tradition—which many Buddhist fables draw on—the puppet is costumed as a Buddhist monk.
As with the puppet theater, most of Burmese society and culture is steeped in the dominant Buddhist faith. In Burma, no deed is considered more worthy than to build a pagoda—a towering shrine that typically houses holy relics or a sacred image. Making a pilgrimage to such shrines is also considered a worthy religious act.