"Kathputli" mean puppet and Rajasthan is famous for its puppet-playing tradition. String puppets or Kathputli dance in Rajasthan is an old tradition. In this dance the puppeteer uses ballads to narrate the stories. These stories or tales of romance and chivalry are told with movements of string puppets.

In olden days, puppeteers used to travel from place to place through various villages to entertain people. Through puppets, the puppeteer tells the stories of legendary heroes or historic events are narrated through it. Thus, along with the entertainment they also spread awareness among the citizens. Different types of puppets or Kathputlis are used for popular puppet shows that include Glove Puppets, String Puppets, Rod Puppets and Shadow Puppets.

For a performance, a small stage is set where puppeteers show puppetry & narrate the story. In the performance, music or ballad plays an important role as the entire performance is based upon the ballad. Sometimes, the puppeteer makes use of various sound effects to achieve the reality impact & give a quality entertainment. The puppeteer shows all his skills to make puppets dance on his tunes. The puppets are fixed on stage in fact they are strung on the stage for the performance. It recounts historic anecdotes, replay tales of love, and include much screeching and high-pitched sound as the puppet twirl and move frenetically at the time of performance.