Dhadal Rathore of village Kolu had four children: two boys, Buro the older and Pabuji the younger brother, and two girls, Sona and Pema.

In his young age, Pabuji fought against the Khici clan to evict them from his land that they had encroached and killed their leader, Jindrav Khinchi.

[2][4][5] An eventful part of Pabuji’s life was the marriage of Kelam, his favourite niece, to his friend, the snake deity of Rajasthan, known as Gogaji.

[4][6] The Kulu village where Pabu was born, now has only two conventional but small temples within a courtyard, where Puja (worship) is offered to the Pabuji.

[7][8] In villages of Rajasthan, Pabuji was considered an ascetic and hence his blessings were sought for veterinary services provided by his disciples, the Bhopas.

He is also invoked to cure children possessed of spirits by driving away the djinn; this is done by tying an amulet created during the early hours of the morning, towards the end of the narration of the Phad, by circling a holy thread seven times around the flame and then seven knots.

"[9] The Phad canvas is usually of 15 by 15 feet (4.6 m × 4.6 m) sheet cloth, on which are painted (or sewn) miniature scenes depicting the life of Pabuji and his adventures.

[10][11] The Phad or Par represents, in its painting, the court of Pabuji (as a historical true Rajput chief who sacrifices his life for protection of others), his palace and his divine character as an incarnation of Laksmana, brother of the Rama of the Ramayana Hindu epic story, the forts in which he lived as well as the sanctum of his goddess Deval.

"[3][5][12] The depictions (as shown in the image in the infobox) shows according to historian William Dalrymple a "panorama of medieval Rajasthan: women, horses, peacocks, carts, archers, battles, washer-men and fishermen, kings and queens, huge grey elephants and herds of white cows and buff camels, many-armed demons, fish-tailed wonder-creatures and blue-skinned gods, all arranged around the central outsized figure of Pabuji, his magnificent black mare, Kesar Kalami, and his four great companions and brothers-in-arms.

The blank spaces in between are depicted with scenes of Pabuji's journey from Rajasthan to Umarkot, and also images of Ganesh, Sarasvati and Vishnu in different incarnations that are painted at the top of the Phad or Par.

[2] The Phad, from the time it is painted by the renowned painters of this art form, is treated with utmost reverence by the Bophas.

Phads are integral to the Bhopas' vocation and are considered the “epic qua religious service.” They perform this art form through a combination of folk singing and dancing interspersed with interludes to interact with the audience in front of a scroll or canvas, known as Phad or Par in Rajasthani that depicts the episodes of the narrative of the folk deity.

After reaching a village or town, the Bhopas erect the Phad between two poles under a shamiana (an open tent)in a suitable public place shortly after nightfall.

The present trend of narration has many intermissions for taking tea, singing devotional songs (bhajans), popular film music, thus making it partly an entertainment coupled with the "religious ritual of invoking Pabuji as a living deity".

Bhopa is the main singer (narrator) who does it with an accompaniment of a musical instrument, called the ravanhattho (a desert zither or a spike fiddle with eighteen strings but without frets), which he crafts by himself.

[2][3][6][13] The narration of the epic is done in the jagarans (night-wakes) time to invoke the prakas, meaning the presence of the folk deities, in the Rajasthani dialect.

[2][15] The Phad's epic narrations are attended primarily by the traditionally nomadic and camel-herding Rabari caste (for Pabuji is their principal deity).

Present day narratives have drawn parallels with the Ramayana episodes to create divine attributes of the deities to Pabuji and the other characters.

One writer attributes this development as "regarding Pabuji and other characters as avatars of Sanskritic deities and personages, though Brahmin influence is still minimal.

Pabuji seems to be worshipped for very worldly ends, namely sound health, or its recovery, prosperity, a good marriage, a successful childbirth, and so on.

"[17] An annual festival of Pabuji Ki Phad epic narration is held at Pabusar when 10,000 to 15,000 people are said to attend.

[5][19] The earliest painting of a Phad or Par, as mentioned by John Smith, a scholar of the "Epic of Pabuji", is dated to 1867.