In India there is a tradition of narrating legends with the visual aid of painted panels. Today, the epic legends of Pabuji and Dev Narayan, are painted on cloth panels, ten to twenty feet long four to six feet wide. They are carried from village to village and narrated by itinerant bards. Incidents from the epics are painted in continuous narratives around the central figure of the deity. The bhopa, narrator, sings to the accompaniment of dancers and musicians, and explains these paintings. The pads are traditionally painted by the josi chipas of Bhilwara, Chitorgarh, Shahpura, etc. Formerly the pads were painted on seasoned Khadi cloth with mineral and vegitable colours, a technique still known to some families. Traditionally, the old pads are immersed in the Pushkar lake, therefore there are very few pads, older than a century, that survive.