Kaavad/Painted Mobile Shrines of Udaipur, Rajasthan

Issue #002, Monsoon, 2019                                                                      ISSN: 2581- 9410

Kaavad is created in a small village in Rajasthan.

Kaavad is a wooden handcrafted and painted object. Traditionally made in mango wood this ingeniously crafted narrative device illustrates detailed figures and scenes from mythology on every panel. The rectangular shaped traditional wooden kaavad is always 12” in size for the convenience of Bhats (singers of kaavad) to travel around the villages. The kaavad is made up of wooden door that is hinged into two-three panels on each side of the door. As each panel opens the story unravels finally to the grand ending where the inner doors to the sanctum sanctorum are opened and the deity revealed for the devotees. The devotees then donate some money before the doors are shut till the next retelling. The Kaavadiya Bhat who travels from village to village with kaavad hanging from his neck recites the holy stories and maintains the family genealogies.