Bhopa

Understand

Where Bhopa comes from

Bhopa (or Bhopa-jatra) is the narrative song-and-shadow-painting tradition of the Bhopa shrine-keepers of western Rajasthan, particularly of the Pabuji and Dev Narayan cults in the Pali, Rajsamand and Bhilwara districts. The Bhopa community serves as hereditary priest-performers for the small village shrines dedicated to the medieval Rajput folk-heroes Pabuji Rathore and Dev Narayan. The tradition involves the recitation of the long ballad of Pabuji (the Pabuji ki Phad) or of Dev Narayan over the painted scroll that depicts the story, accompanied by the ravanhatha (bowed fiddle) and the dhol. The tradition is recognised by Sangeet Natak Akademi as a distinctive Rajasthani folk form and is a recognised medium for transmitting Rajput folk history to villagers in an oral-visual setting.

How it's practiced

Bhopa is performed by one or more shrine-keepers, with one Bhopa singing the ballad and pointing to the painted phad (a long scroll-cloth depicting the scenes of the story in sequence) and another playing the ravanhatha and the dhol. The performance runs through the night, with the Bhopa gradually unfolding the scroll and the corresponding ballad section. The audience — villagers, devotees of the local shrine — listens and occasionally responds with affirmations and questions. Costume is the hereditary Bhopa vestments — dhoti and the coloured head-cloth — with the phad scroll unrolled progressively across the central platform. The performance is associated with the festivals of the heroes — Pabuji's Gowardhan Puja and Dev Narayan's Janmashtami and the annual mela at Asind.