Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Tholu bommalata" in English language version.
Puppetry is one of the most ancient Indian folk arts and Andhra history records that this art was in vogue during the Satavahana period in the 4th century B.C. Art critics opine that the puppetry spread from Andhra to Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and from there to Africa, Greece, Macedonia and the Byzantine empire.
The tolu bommalata shadow puppets are found in the Andhra region and may be the origin of the Javanese wayang kulit puppets.
Leather puppet shadow play is one of the most ancient performing folk art forms known to Andhras from 3rd century B.C. Historians and art critics opine that it spread to Java, Malaysia, and Indonesia from Andhra.
Indonesian version of Tholu Bommalata known as "Wayang" has roots in the Telugu-speaking region.
Developed before the 10th century, the form had origins in the tholu bommalata, the leather puppets of southern India. The art of shadow puppetry probably spread to Java with the spread of Hinduism.
Perhaps the most interesting of the south-Indian puppet types for me, however, were the tholu bommalata -- the articulated, leather, shadow puppets -- which are the probable ancestors of Indonesia's wayang.
