Promoting dignity and respect for all...

Folk Arts Rajasthan (FAR), based in the United States, partners with Lok Kala Sagar Sansthan (LKSS) a community folk arts society based in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan India. Together our US based Non-Profit and LKSS, the Indian Non-Governmental Organization, are committed to eradicating illiteracy, fostering community development, and celebrating cultural understanding through preservation of the Merasi traditional artistic legacy.

In their remote desert region of Jaisalmer District, members of LKSS are born being called Manganiyar. From birth, they are considered untouchable beggars and will bear this social stigmatism their entire lives. Daily harassment and intense marginalization remove all opportunity. The Merasi, as they have chosen to call themselves, have held the role of oral genealogists, storytellers, and musicians for upper caste communities in the same geographic area for more than 37 generations.

Today the Merasi artistic tradition is their gift to the world.

Get to know the Merasi