Purulia district is one of the 23 districts of West Bengal state in Eastern India. People of tribal communities live in villages. They belong mostly to the Porto-Australoid groups with dark skin color, sunken nose and lower forehead, being mostly ‘SANTHALS’ and ‘ GONDS’.
Humans have been painting for tens and thousands of years to express themselves, before there were scripts or languages. Tribal wall painting is an age old tradition in Purulia also which are carried across generations. The forms and types have evolved over time with changes in lifestyles, economic structures. It also differs among communities and is shaped by the occasions during which the paintings are done.
Ideas behind the art are almost same, being fertility, marriage, birth, farming and harvest. Paintings are also done to please the Gods and ancestors. Tribal women decorate their huts using natural pigments mixed in mud, using cloth swabs or chewed twigs of local sakhua/shala tree. The walls of houses are painted with natural and artificial colourings and designs are made with fingers.
This fresco relief or murals on clay walls – a long practice in rural Bengal is the true form of art by women folk who are the creators. The subjects depicted are representation of a strong bond between women and her immediate environment. Banana groves, lotus forms intermingled with images of domestic and wild animals and birds forms the artists’ world. The personal experience of the artist and her interaction with nature are the biggest influences on this art form.
The old cave paintings of ALTAMIRA or BHIMBAITKHA have been carried forward to this tribal art form but of course with few changes. While the forms dealt with depiction of images of wild animals and daily activities, the latter deals with geometrical shapes, patterns and floral designs.
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