f

The paintings on the walls of mud

houses in villages are some of the
finest examples of the rich cultural
heritage in the region

ohuar and sohrai paintings are matriar-

chal parampara traditions. Art forms
and information-sacred, secular and
pertaining to a woman's world-are
handed down from generation to gener-
ation, constituting perhaps one of the most fragile,
beautiful and threatened indigenous traditions of
India, This art is exclusively made by married women
(deuis) during the marriage and harvest seasons.Young
E
d girls learn the art from their mothers and aunts. Comb-
E
c
E
cut or finger-painted designs made during the wedding
: season constitute kohuar art, while sohrai is a painted
!
E
o
Fine finish: (left and belor,v) Bhitwara houses in
U
o
a Barkagaon that have been comb-cut in the kohvar
!
d
style with elaborate motifs
art form done on village walls-as murals-to cele-
brate the harvest.

MnnnrneE MonFs
lt-T!h" word hho relates to ancestral painted cave
I dwellinss called kohabara. Plant forms and fertil-
I try ,y-l'ot, are important motifs in the art. Kohuar
art is meant to welcome the bridegroom who is depicted
as Lord Indra riding an elephant. Decorations of wild ani-
mals and plants surrounding the central form, are meant
to symbolise fertility.This art uses fhO comb-cut technique
in which a coating of manganese black earth is spread in
liquefied form on a wall with a broom or by hand. This
is then covered with white kaolin earth cut in graffito style
with a comb made of bamboo or plastic. At other times,
the design is simply cut out with the tips of four fingers
which have been covered with a piece of cloth.

HRnvesr PATTERNS Art and sou[: (top) Ptant forms during the Sohrai Festival;
Sohrai is derived from the Mundaric word soroi, (above) A sanjwa fotk artist from Hazaribagh

MARCH 2oo4 orscovrn lruore /l

 meaning to 'whip or beat' (cattle), and finds its root in
another word, soro, meaning to 'close the door'. This
alludes to the fact that cattle were first domesticated in
Mundaric society. Its manifestations are derived directly
from the tree of life, a favourite West Asian and Indus
symbol, which may be traced to the pre-Mesolithic rock
art found in Khandar and Saraiya, Hazaribagh. The
background colour is restricted to neutral earth shades
while the designs painted on it are done with red oxide
derived from natural stone, red ochre, kaolin white and
manganese black. Blue and green colours are an aber-
ration. So is lime white. In the early winter months,
s ohraiharvest painting.is comb-cut, but is differentiated
by rice-gruel marks, created by stamping the surface
with harvested corncobs or with the jhanihra, a perfo-
rated ladle used for frying the auspicious sweet bread
called pua. During the Sohrai Festival in October, vil-
lages wear a festive look. Lamps are lit in the evenings
in every household. On the following morning, the cat-

Telling a story: klockwise from above);

Animal motifs in lhe kohvar styte; The art
of comb-cutting is mastered by women;
The outer walt of a Ghatwal home painted
with motifs of fish, peacocks and goats;
Brightty painted geometric patterns
in a Santhal home
 tle shed is washed and sprinkled with rice beer.The high-
light of the festival is the welcome of the cattle, which are
I
taken for grazing in the morning, after they have been
worshipped and ceremonially blessed.

Pnrnnne rRADrnoNs
Village arts can be classified into several sub-styles
depending on the various sub-castes and tribes

ORAON: Comb-cut painting is one of the oldest art

forms. Images of cgttle and feeding troughs, papyrus,
birds, fish, plants, circled lotuses, zigzagpatterns, squares
divided into opposing triangles and a series of arches
called bana or basei,a-the symbol of a house-are the
common motifs. A lot of floral art forms are drawn dur-
ing the harvest season by the community. It also has a
unique form of ancestor painting called purkha, which
comprises linear motifs in bands of natural colours. The
art is mostly practised by families of an older cattle-rear-

I
 ing generation known as the Gorait Oraon.
GAN|U: One of the greatest art forms of |harkhand
is Eanjtt painting. It is significd by animal-both wild
and domesticated-and plant forms. Flouses are deco-
r-ated with large murals of wild animals, birds and exotic
plant forms, as if thc forcst has been brought indoors.
Very often, endangered animals and birds like the one-
horned rhino and the Bengal Florican appear in the pic-
ture-story traditions.
PRAIAPATI,RANA&TELI:During . lotus often appear in an entwined fbrm.
thc mtrriage season, these three.sub-castes
clecorate their houscs with plaht and ani-
rral lertilitv ftrnns" Both the lingcl painting
and comb-cutting methocls arc used, but
the latter is more popular. Thc projaputi
Vibrant hues: (rop) Cotour ftower motifs in
lhe ghatwal slVle (right) The Birhors use
modern crayons to adorn their walls
(above right) Colourful motifs add a touch i or with his consort, Parvati. Red, black
of vibrancy to the [andscape
DsaovER iNDrA I\4AR.H 2o04
style uses filigree work, with a parlicular stress on zoomor-
phic plant representations and also of Pashupati, the lord
oI animals, who is considered to be a manif'estation of
Shiva. This art is full of floral motifs. sometimes filled in
with colours. The tree of life motif and the
Despite the similarity in symbols, rano and
tell sq,les are darker and heavier.
KURMI: The sohrai of the Kurmis is
unique in style.The drawings are made on
the walls by tracing the outline of forms
with a nail, and then, a wooden compass
is used to etch the segmented lotus. Pashu-
pati or Shiva is porrrayed as a homed deity.
who is seen standing on the back of a bull
and white lines are drawn in pairs on either

side to represent the ashes of the ancestors. The Kurmis of
Bhelwara practice a glyptic art on the walls and floors of
their houses in which. the principal form is the plant. It
represents Shiva-Parvati and the marriage mandala,
referred to as the shaadi chowk.
MUNDA: The Mundas use their fingers to paint in the
soft, wet earth of their houses.They use unique motifs
such as the rainbow snake and plant'forms of a deity sim-
ilar to the one revered by the Prajapatis and the Kurmis.
The mud found in the villages, adjoining the rock art
sites, is lavender-grey in colour. It contrasts beautifully
with the ochre mud used for the drawing.
GHATWAL: The forest dwelling of the Ghatwals use
drawings of animals in the glyptic form.
TURI: This small community of basket weavers,
inhabits the bamboo groves of the plateau and weaves
bamboo mats and baskets for a living. A predominance
of floral and fungle-based motifs in natural earthy tones
is seen on the walls of their mud houses.
BIRHOR & BHUTYA: The Bihors, a nomadic hunter-
gatherer tribe, claim that their ancestors were responsible for
the rock art in the caves of Hazaribagh. Living in conical sal-
leaf-thatched huts, the Bihors have no painting material or
walls to draw on.Their first noted expressions were done in
charcoal and crayons on the cement walls of a govemment
building! Bihor art is not beautii.rl or decorated. It is simple,
strong and authentic.The Bhuiya and the Birhors internany,
so it is natural that their art shares the same graphic simplicity
and pictorial elements. Exclusively done withtheuse offingers,
Bhuiya designs represent simple mandaln forms like the cres-
cent,*at,Aoni, rectangle with petals onthe comers, ovals with
flared lines and concentric circles. Interestingly, the pattems are
akin to some of the oldest forms of paintings found in the rock
art of the region.
MANIHI SANTHAL: Legend has it that these jungle folk
had links with the IndusValley Civilisation.The striking war-
ring figures painted in black on the simple clay plaster walls of
the houses are a startling expression of their ancient past. tr
MARCH 2oo4 Drscovrn lnon /p