My first encounter with Kavad folk art was at the Artisans Fair organized at the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts in New Delhi.
These colorful wooden boxes painted in bright yellow, red and green colors had suddenly attracted my complete attention. Seeing this living example of Kavad folk art, my Rome was filled with joy.
To make this joy of mine permanent, holding the camera in my hands, I ran towards that cottage of the fair.
The artist present there told me that this is a unique style of mythology presentation. Kavad is like a magic box which keeps many secrets in its layers.
Here this box is a small compact box in which the doors open in many layers and interesting stories are presented to the audience. All these doors open sequentially only with a special device.
When I tried to open the door of a box, I was confused in the middle. Seeing my confusion, the face of the artisan lit up with gloom. Keeping my enthusiasm alive he told me that after a little practice it becomes very easy to open it sequentially.
What is this cauldron?
Kavad, that is, that colorful wooden box-like toy which in itself contains many stories, is actually a pilgrimage. Most of the stories are related to the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
However, on some occasions, you can also see depictions of local folk tales, such as the lives of saints and great men. You can also call them a moving temple.
As far as Mewar, the birthplace of Kavad is concerned, it is mainly used to depict family stories including genealogies.
Come, let’s see how the texture of Kavad is. If you look at it carefully, you will see many occupied wooden doors, on which pictures telling different stories will be visible.
Most often, the guardians of the plot are depicted on the first panel. For example, in the story I carefully observed, the main panels of it were depicted Jai and Vijay.
The narrator opens each door gradually and reads the story depicted there. When all the doors are opened one by one, then the sanctum sanctorum of this temple of the temple appears, where the presiding deity of this temple is depicted.
It is like an audio-visual journey from the outer world to the inner world. Just like entering a real temple, you reach its sanctum. So it happened that Kavad is also a Devasthan!
community of kavad artists
There are three main communities associated with the Kavad tradition. The carpenters make colorful wooden boxes made of kavad, while the Kavadia Bhat community uses it to narrate mythological stories. The third community is the yajaman, the customer, who listens to these stories.
I was told that this practice of telling stories is about 400 years old. Although it seems to me that this practice may be even older than this. Yes, it must have been documented 400 years ago.
carpenter community
By my estimation, the carpenter community is the only community that is involved in the manufacture of Kavad. These artisans of carpenter society are mostly residents of Bassi village situated on Chittor-Kota road, in Mewar region of Rajasthan. It is believed that the 16th.
In the century, the prince of Devgad, Jaimal had brought these artisans from Nagaur city of Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. The artisans of the carpenter community are also called Basayati. Perhaps, being a resident of Bassi village, he must have been called so.
Although they consider themselves to be descendants of Vishwakarma, the architect of Devlok. The same Vishwakarma who not only created the universe but also built Dwarka, the golden city of Shri Krishna.
You will be surprised to know that carpenters use the wood of neem tree to make Kavad. Originally red color was used to make it. Now other colors are also being used on the request of the customers.
Kavadiya Bhat
While on the one hand the carpenters bring the mythology to life on these kavads, on the other hand, kavadiya bhats take these kavad-like shrines to the homes of the hosts or customers.
They accept Dakshina by telling stories to the hosts. This is called kavad banchana. This is also their only means of livelihood.
Although the devotees themselves go to the temple to have darshan of the Lord, but here the opposite is the practice. Here the Dev Kavad enters the temple and gives darshan to the devotees at their homes. Isn’t it a unique practice!
Another important use of Kavad is family history preservation. Kavadiya Bhats are actually traditional genealogists who do the work of genealogical studies along with story telling.
The family history of the host is depicted in detail on the colorful doors of Kavad. Kavadia Bhat earns his living by cultivating the tales of his ancestors. You will be astonished to know that this family, the Kavadia Bhats are inherited from generation to generation.
Therefore, Kavad is a unique practice, which preserves personal history as well as becomes a means of one’s livelihood. While I was collecting information about these kavadas, I learned that our ancestors had such an impeccable recording system at the village level.
The genealogy of each and every family in the village was preserved. Over a period of time, when, where and how we lost this important practice.
The Kavadia Bhat community has also played an important role in giving wide popularity to this story-reading practice. He travels from village to village and narrates related mythological stories to the spectators while giving them darshan of Kavad Rupi Devasthan. They also get the benefit of this.
Whenever they open the door, they expect donations from the devotees on that door. Some intelligent story-readers engage the devotees completely in the story and take a comma at a moment where the devotees’ curiosity reaches its peak. Devotees out of emotion make donations generously.
According to my guess, the name of this box is Kavad because of the doors which Kawadiya Bhat tells the story by opening them gradually. Kivad means door.
Ultimately, Kavad is a group of doors that contain the entire story in itself. Some people also consider the meaning of lifting it on the shoulder. Remember those kanwariyas who carry the Ganges water on their shoulders and carry it to the village temple. Hope our young generation will continue to find new uses of these arts.
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