Pabuji Ki Phad - The Phad

The Phad

The Phad canvas is usually of 15 ft × 5 ft sheet cloth, on which are painted (or sewn) miniature scenes depicting the life of Pabuji and his adventures.

The Phad or Par represents, in its painting, the court of Pabuji (as a historical true Rajput chief who sacrifices his life for protection of others), his palace and his divine character as an incarnation of Laksmana, brother of the Rama of the Ramayana Hindu epic story, the forts in which he lived as well as the sanctum of his goddess Deval. The back drop of such narrations is invariably in the desert villages of Rajasthan. The images in the painting are arranged logically, also showing revengeful exploits of his nephew on his enemy, Jindrav Khici. However, iconographically it is considered as "extremely complex and intricate."

The depictions (as shown in the image in the infobox) shows according to historian William Dalrymple a "panorama of medieval Rajasthan: women, horses, peacocks, carts, archers, battles, washer-men and fishermen, kings and queens, huge grey elephants and herds of white cows and buff camels, many-armed demons, fish-tailed wonder-creatures and blue-skinned gods, all arranged around the central outsized figure of Pabuji, his magnificent black mare, Kesar Kalami, and his four great companions and brothers-in-arms.

The sequence of images (see infobox) painted on the Pabuji Ki Phad is: the main deity - Pabhuji - is at the centre and to his right is his court with his four principal companions, on the left of main deity is the court of Buro, his brother. At the extreme left is Umarkot and at the left edge, Lanka. To the right of Pabuji's court is the court of the Lady Deval (goddess of Kolu). At the far right of the painting is Khici's court. The blank spaces in between are depicted with scenes of Pabuji's journey from Rajasthan to Umarkot, and also images of Ganesh, Sarasvati and Vishnu in different incarnations that are painted at the top of the Phad or Par.

The Phad, from the time it is painted by the renowned painters of this art form, is treated with utmost reverence by the Bophas. They make daily offerings to the Phad. It is considered a hereditary possession and is passed on to one of their kin to continue the tradition. As the Phad gets worn or torn or becomes thread bare, a formal religious procedure is followed to decommission it. This procedure is called tandakarna in Hindi, which means to cool or remove its divine power. This is done by confining to the holy waters of the Ganges or Pushkar Lake.