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The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Indian
Storyteller's cloth (Par or Phad) (mid 20th century)
opaque watercolour and ink on cotton
150.0 × 780.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 2005
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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About this work
This phad (storyteller’s cloth) depicts the legend of Pabuji, a deified Rajasthan folk hero who is thought to have lived in the fourteenth century. The cloth is considered a dwelling of the god and forms a backdrop for the bhopa (storyteller, priest) and bhopi (his wife), who narrate and sing the legend of Pabuji to a village audience over a single night. Both the performance and the audience’s engagement are a form of worship. On the cloth, narrative scenes are arranged around the large central figure of Pabuji, their relative proximity and size determined by their spiritual significance and geographic location in relation to the hero’s village, rather than chronological order.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Rajasthan, India
Accession Number
2005.249
Department
Asian Art
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation