A rich corpus of ballads, myths and stories helps to knit together communities and regions of India. Performers circulate through villages scattered across the countryside, setting up in the village square or the courtyard of a large house.

Their performances often last all night and are typically "multimedia". They combine two or more forms of dance, music, puppetry and painting, and feature stories and versions of the great epics punctuated with outrageous humour and local history.