A Book?

I wanted to share this amazing form of story-telling. Its called a Katha-Peti or Story-Chest.
It comes from the area of Rajasthan, in North India. Its mostly stories about gods and goddesses. Each painted wooden page opens out to reveal another. Its a beautiful way and form in which to tell a story. (I promise to take better pictures tomorrow!)

This is the Katha-Peti closed and standing.

Here it is, the first two pages/doors open.

A detail of whats inside.

Turning the first block.

The second page and what's behind it.

The second page opens out further.

A detail of how each page has been fitted and the notches on top.

The third page open completely.

Both the pages opened out. A small door is revealed.

A close-up of the doors.

The doors open, to reveal, in a finale, two small idols carved into the back of the structure.


I plan to document the palm leaf book and add them to this post next week. If you have any example of objects that could be books, please share them. I think this could be a great exchange!