Phad painting or phad (; IAST: ''Phad'', ) is a style religious scroll painting and folk painting, practiced in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. This style of painting is traditionally done on a long piece of cloth or canvas, known as '. The narratives of the folk deities of Rajasthan, mostly of

Pabuji Pabuji is a folk-deity of Rajasthan in India who is also worshiped in parts of Gujarat and the Indus plain. The Narrative of Pabuji The narrative of Pabuji is sung by the Bhopa poet-singers of Nayak community is based according to the tradi ...

and

Devnarayan Devnarayan is a folk deity from Rajasthan, India. he is worshipped mostly in Rajasthan and north-western Madhya Pradesh. According to tradition, he was born to Sri Savai Bhoj and Sadu mata on the seventh day of the bright half (''shukla saptami' ...

are depicted on the ''s''. The

Bhopa The Bhopa people are the priest-singers of the folk deities in the state of Rajasthan, India. They perform in front of a scroll, known as (''par'' in the Rajasthani language) that depicts the episodes of the narrative of the folk deity and fu ...

s, the priest-singers traditionally carry the painted ''s'' along with them and use these as the mobile temples of the folk deities, who are worshipped by the Rebari community of the region. The ''s'' of Pabuji are normally about in length, while the ''s'' of Devnarayan are normally about 30 feet long. Traditionally the ''s'' are painted with vegetable colors. Traditional examples of this art are Devnarayan Ki Phad and Pabuji Ki Phad. This style was revolutionized by Shree Lal Joshi and Pradip Mukherjee about forty years ago. Mukherjee's paintings are based on the stories of ''

Ramcharitmanas ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, श्रीरामचरितमानस, Rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, based on the ''Ramayana'', and composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1532–1623). Thi ...

'', ''

Gita Govinda The ''Gita Govinda'' ( sa, गीत गोविन्दम्; ) is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship between Krishna, Radha and ''gopis'' (female cow herders) of Vrindavan. The ''Gita ...

'', ''

Kumārasambhava ''Kumārasaṃbhavam'' ( sa, कुमारसम्भवम् "The Birth of Kumāra") is an epic poem by Kālidāsa. It is widely regarded as the finest work of Kālidāsa as well as the greatest kāvya poem in Classical Sanskrit. The style ...

,'' '' Bhagavad Gita'' and ''

Hanuman Chalisa The ''Hanuman Chalisa'' (; ''Chaupai (poetry), Forty chaupais on Hanuman'') is a Hinduism, Hindu devotional hymn (''stotra'') in praise of Hanuman.Rambhadradas 1984pp. 1–8./ref> It was authored by Tulsidas in the Awadhi language, and is his bes ...

.'' The art of ' painting was exclusively practiced by the Joshi community. However, in 1960, Shree Lal Joshi opened a school called Joshi Kala Kendra for everyone to learn this art style. Presently, the school is called Chitrashala.

References

External links

A dedicated website on phad painting
Schools of Indian painting Rajasthani arts Rajasthani culture Indian painting Bhilwara district Painted fabrics

References

Further reading

External links