thumb|upright|A nang drama player and puppet

Nang yai (, ) is a form of shadow play found in Thailand. Puppets are made of painted buffalo hide, while the story is narrated by songs, chants and music.

Nang means "leather" ("leather puppet" in this case), and in common usage refers to a dance-drama shadow puppet show. Nang yai, whose name specifically means "large shadow puppet", features life-size puppets, while nang talung (a similar tradition of shadow puppetry whose name derives from Phattalung, a southern city where the tradition has long been popular) features much smaller puppets. Both are particularly popular in southern Thailand. According to James Brandon, most scholars believe that nang yai came to Thailand via Java and the Malay Peninsula from India. The puppet figures are made from perforated cow or buffalo hide, each weighing about three or four kilograms. The biggest puppet is one which characterizes a place, weighing around five to seven kilograms.

Nang yai influenced that khon, a dance-drama art form from Thailand which involves masked pantomime.

See also

  • Nang talung
  • Hun lakhon lek
  • Wayang
  • Tholu bommalata
  • Karagöz and Hacivat

References

  • Transmitting the Ramayana Epic from India to Southeast Asia and the West through Shadow Puppetry and Visual Art, Siew Lian Lim, Northern Illinois University (2009)
  • Invocations to Nataraja in the Southeast Asian Shadow-Plays, S Singaravelu, Journal of the Siam Society (1970)