Pabuji Ki Phad - Phad Painters

Phad Painters

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 they operate from their traditional towns of Shahpura and Bhilwara in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. There are at least seventeen or eighteen painters involved in painting this art form. However, Shree Lal Joshi and Shanti Lal Joshi are the most noted artists of the phad painting, who are known for their innovations and creativity. Bhopas also say that the painting made by Shree Lal Joshi have "the powers to exorcise any spirit...once the Phad was complete and the eyes of the hero were painted in, neither the artist nor the Bhopa regarded it as a piece of art. Instead it instantly became a mobile temple: as Pabuji's devotees were semi-nomadic herders, his temple -the Phad visited the worshippers rather than the other way round."

Painting method

It is a hereditary art form, which is passed on from father to son. A Bhopa commission's this painting for religious purpose. The painting is drawn on a cotton cloth. The cloth is first prepared by applying a paste of flour and gum. It is then polished with a stone. An auspicious date is chosen for starting the painting since it is used for religious purpose by the Bhopa. A virgin girl only has the privilege of giving the first stroke of the brush on the Phad painting; normally the girl belongs to the painter's family or to a high-caste. An outline of the painting is drawn by the artist with light yellow colour paint; only earth colours or vegetable colours or indigo are used. The colours are then mixed with gum and water, and painted one colour after the other, in the order of orange, yellow, and so forth. Black is the last colour paint used for the border. Again, on an auspicious day, the painting is signed by the artist at the centre of the painting, close to the image of the main deity. Signature of the Bhopa who commissions the painting is also included, but it is optional. As a last act, the artist is said to give 'life' or "awaken the deity" of the painting by opening the pupil in the eyes of the main deity at the centre of the painting. It then becomes the Pabhuji Ki Phad of the Bhopa who has commissioned it.

The earliest painting of a Phad or Par, as mentioned by John Smith, 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 emphasis on bardic narration of Pabhuji Ki Phad said to be on the decline in recent times, painters of Pars or Phads are also making Phads as collector's items in smaller sizes, and with different religious and other themes.