HIDDEN SECRETS OF INDIA - “PABUJI KI PHAD” by Sounak Sarkar

“Pabuji Ki Phad”

Pabuji ki Phad; Source- Wikimedia commons

(Gujarat’s not-so-known artform)

Pabuji; Source- Wikipedia

 

“Pabuji Ki Phad” is a religious scroll painting of folks deities, which is popular within the Indian state of Rajasthan. If deciphered within the literal sense, this translates into two versions namely, "The Screen of Pabuji or O, Read of ‘Pabuji’”. it's used for a musical rendition of the sole surviving ancient traditional folk-art form, Phad painting within the world of the epic of Pabuji, the Rathod Rajput chief. ‘Pabuji’ is additionally referred to as "the Ascetic Deity of Sand Desert". “Bhopas” of Pabusar are the bards and also priests who are the normal narrators of this form.

Padma Shree and Shipguru awardee
Shree Lal Joshi; Source- www.phadchitra.com

The Phad is additionally spelt as “Par.” The Phads or Pars are painted by professional painters called “citero”. Well-known professional painters are known by the clan name 'Josi' of the Chipa caste. Their expertise is in textile printing and that they operate from their traditional towns of Shahpura and Bhilwara within the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. There is a minimum of seventeen or eighteen painters involved in painting this kind. However, Shree Lal Joshi and Shanti Lal Joshi are the foremost noted artists of the phad painting, who are known for his or her innovations and creativity.

“Pabuji Ki Phad” could even be a hereditary form passed on from father to son. The painting is drawn on cotton. This cloth is first prepared by applying a paste of flour and gum. It's then polished with a stone. An auspicious date is chosen for starting the painting since it's used for religious purposes by the Bhopas. Only earth colours or vegetable colours of indigo are used. Black is that the last colour paint used for the border. Again, on an auspicious day, the artist signed the painting at the middle of the painting, near the image of the foremost deity. thanks to the last act, the artist is claimed to relinquish 'life' or "awaken the deity" of the painting by opening the pupil within the eyes of the foremost deity at the middle of the painting. It is then, that it becomes the Pabhuji Ki Phad of the Bhopa, by whom it had been commissioned within the first place.

A documentary on "Pabuji ki Phad"; Source- YouTube

As mentioned by Captain John Smith, the earliest painting of a Phad or Par, a scholar of the "Epic of Pabuji" is dated to 1867. Colonel James Tod, the British Lieutenant reported of a ceremony that included a Par painting in 1819. With the stress on bardic narration of Pabhuji Ki Phad said to air the decline in recent times, painters of Pars or Phads also are making Phads as collector's items in smaller sizes and with different religious and other themes.