Story-tellers wooden box or kavadh, with scenes from Ramayana and Bhagavata Purana, Rajasthan, 20th century

Story-teller's wooden box, with folding flaps and doors with scenes from the Ramayana on the left and from the Bhagavata Purana on the right.
This portable shrine, which is painted with Vaishnavite subjects in approximately 70 distinct scenes altogether, would have been used by a traditional story-teller (bhat).
Two narrow outer doors, painted on both sides, open to reveal Vishnu recumbent on the serpent Shesha and other scenes. The first main flap then opens out leftwards; its three visible sides are painted with scenes of a version of the Rama story, in three registers. The second flap opens to the right: its four visible sides show numerous scenes from the childhood and youth of Krishna. Two narrow inner doors are painted with deities and other figures: these open to reveal the ultimate, inner panel which depicts Sita standing under an umbrella with Rama and Lakshmana in attendance. All the panels and the exterior of the shrine have a common red ground; the exterior is also roughly decorated with floral and trellis patterns and outlining in yellow, black and white.

From Basi near Chitor, according to Dr Eberhard Fischer of Zurich

This portable painted wooden box would have been used by a traditional story-teller (bhat). It has folding flaps and doors and is painted with approximately seventy scenes relating to the Hindu god Vishnu. The outer doors open to show Vishnu recumbent on the snake Shesha. The first flap then opens leftwards, and on that side are scenes from the great Hindu epic, the Ramayana, which tells the story of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu. The second flap opens to the right, and on that side are scenes from the Bhagavata Purana, whose tenth chapter deals with the life of Krishna, another incarnation of Vishnu. The final, inner doors reveal a panel showing the goddess Sita, Rama's wife, standing under an umbrella with Rama and his brother Lakshmana in attendance.

IS.6-1983