How to travel with the Mother Goddess

Travelling with your family deity might sound like a scene from an '80s Hindi flick. Right? But the Chitara families belonging to the wandering Devipujak Vaghari community of Gujarat actually follow this ritual.



For 300 years, they have been creating hand-painted or block-printed images on textiles, with the Mother Goddess as the central image surrounded by stories from myths, legends and folk traditions.
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These days, the Chitaras live in Ahmedabad and in Kheda district. Only a few families continue to create these textile narratives. In Gujarati, Mata ni Pachedi translates to that which enshrines the Mother Goddess, like the backdrop to the idol.
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In larger portable shrines, four Pachedis are pieced together. The rectangular 'Pached' encloses the shrine while the 'Mata no Chandarvo', a square cloth, forms a shamiana on top. Get a glimpse of these paintings at the Artisans' Centre in Kala Ghoda.

Till February 3.
AT Artisans' Centre, Dr VB Gandhi Marg, Kala Ghoda.
CALL 22673040