Kavad is a mobile - storytelling device that sometimes serves as a temporary temple it is created by combining the skills of carpentry, painting, and narration. As separate professions, the carpenters are called a Suthar.
The Kavad makers combine work of the carpenter and artists while the Kavadia Bhats do the narration. The Kavad is made only in a village called Bassi, in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan most cultural expressions have the spirit of surviving because of ancestral heritage the jajmans, as their patrons were called earlier.
The community of Kavad makers use the surname Suthar and others add Jangid to their name to signify that the community are Jangid Brahmins, descendants of the Lord Visvakarma, considered the divine architect of the universe and supreme God of the arts. They work as both carpenters and painters. Kavad are 1’ to 2.5’ high with 12 to 16 panels on wooden pivots and metal hinges.
Kavad artists use colors derived from minerals, which can be procured from the market. These mineral colors are in the form of powders which are mixed with a solution of tree resin which acts as an adhesive. The color palette used by artists is composed of white, red, blue, yellow, green and black.
These are mixed with a solution of tree resin which acts as an adhesive, to make a color palette of white, red, blue, yellow, green and black. Once the mineral colors are prepared and the wooden structure is given its base color, the artist makes the outline of the figures using a fine brush. The original Kavad was always on a red background.
Women in the household help in mixing colors with the resin. In most craft forms, women are actively involved in the production process.
Nowadays Kavads are made to suit a variety of tastes and functions, and are made in a range of colors. For smaller Kavads the colorful figures are painted directly on the wooden surface. Satyanarayana does not use a design guide and has the plan for the painting in his head. The colors are applied one by one in layers, each layer adding the next stage of depth and detailing.
Among the few artists who believe in keeping the art alive is Mangilal Mistri. He is a recognized ambassador of the Kavad Art. Mistri has also brought in certain variations in this dying art of storytelling. He introduces nuances like current affairs to educate the rural masses of government programs. One more artist keeping this art alive is Satyanarayana Suthar from Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. He has won the National Award in 2014 for his art.
Artists have now started selling the Kavad boxes as decorative pieces as an alternative to generating income. People might not listen to the kavadiya bhatts now, but keeping these masterpieces as décor items in their houses is a way. The buyers’ can customize these boxes according to their needs and demands. With contemporary color combinations and images, the Kavad boxes have taken a new look.
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