Reading the Kavad

To own a kavad without ever hearing it read is to own a closed door. The Suthar makes the shrine; the Kavadiya Bhat opens it. Between them sits the jajman, whose genealogy may appear on a panel if the gift is right.

Nina Sabnani and others have described this as a sacred economy of motion. The kavad is charged by travel. It is not a miniature meant to stay on a mantel. Collectors who care for the form would do well to care for the teller, the part of the tradition that cannot be varnished.