Traditional rod puppet theatre from the state of Odisha located in the east of India. The puppets of kathi kundhei nacha (“wooden-rod puppet dance”, also called kandhei nach or kandhei nata) are manipulated by a kathi, or wooden rod. The traditional performance, an amalgam of dance, drama and songs, begins with an invocation (stuti), followed by the sutradhara (stage director/narrator) introducing the episode to be enacted from the epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, or from the Puranas. Puppets are up to 60 centimetres in height, carved, painted, and costumed in the Orissa style of jatra (operatic theatre), with full skirts and shirts. The puppets are joined at the shoulders, and the shoulder joints are connected with strings inside the torso of the puppet to two rings, which are pulled to move the characters’ arms. The rod holds up the head, which is carved in wood and painted. Puppeteers sit on the ground behind a screen. Musicians play drums, cymbals, and reed instruments, including the Indian clarinet and flute, and more recently a harmonium, while a multi-person group manipulates. Today, the staging can be more elaborate, performed in a booth stage with a curtain and painted backdrops, similar to the West Bengal danger putul nach stage.