l55N 0974 - 2506

A magazine on lndian Heritage Volume 1 lssue 4 r November 2008 - January 2009 Price :Rs.180.00
 The verdant forests of the Hazaribagh region in
the tribal state of Jharkhand is home not only to
prehistoric remains and Mesolithic rock-art but also to
the timeless artistic traditions of Khovar and Sohrai.
These two artistic practices are intimately related to the
social and religious life of the people of the region.
Khovar is associated with the annual marriage season
The custom of.Khovar decoration is canied out
not only by people from agricultural communities like
the Ganju and Kurmi, but also by various artisan groups
such as the Rana (carpenter), Teli (oil-extractor and
seller), Ghatwar (originally the guards of mountain
passes), the Prajapati (originally "creators in earth" -
clay-modellers) and the Kumhar (potters, workers in

A typicalvillage in Jha*hand

that runs from January to May, whilst Sohrai marks the

annual harvest cycle and celebrations from October to
November. It is apparent that both these mural painting
styles and the rock-art sites, including Isco, are
inextricably connected with one another and belong to a
single artistic tradition ofthe entire region since ancient
times.
, Khovar art reflects. the socio-religious
tradition of preparing a marriage room. trn fact, the
Khovar is, strictly speaking, the bridal room. The
decoration is done in this room, in the bride's house
by the bride's mother and aunts. This is because in
the tribal matriarchal system a bride-price is paid
and the bridegroom is expected to spend the nuptial
Murals lend a colourful touch to the counttyside
night in his wife's house. Since the tribal woman is
revered as Devi, the mother goddess, she is a very
special person.After marriage she becomes Devi and
anything made by her hands is considered the gift of
the mother goddess. She is the sole person allowed to
draw or embroider ritual sacred icons relating to
marriage and harvest seasons. The marriage season
runs from January till the onset of the monsoons in
June and overlaps the summer months when the
great annual spring and summer hunts take place.

50 Heritage India Nou"*u"r 08 -January 09

created by scraping the upper coating of white or yellow
liquid earth ochre with a comb, revealing the black or
redunder-ioat.
The actual technique of comb cutting is an
elaborate process. The wall is first completely repaired
and plastered with mud, after which it is (in the case of
Bhuiya art) given a coat of cow dung and mud mixture'
After this it is covered with a coat of black eafth (kali
mati) which is applied in a circular half moon stroke
called the basera (bas meaning bamboo and era
meaning goddess). When the coating has dried (or in
some instances when it is still only half dried) the Devi
covers it over with a coating of either brilliant white
earrh (charak) or subdued cream coloured mlud (dudhi)
orplainyellow earth(,pila). Before the white or cream or
yellow earth has achance to dry it is immediately cut by
a gr afffio technique, or mo dern scraper board style, with
a piece of broken comb. The Munda painting is often
done with the fingers instead of with the comb, and the
Bhuiya comb painting is also often done only with the
fingers, a style practiced by
some Oraons. The
Prajapatis or potters like the Kumhars are known to
sometimes use their fingers instead of cornbs. However,
generally speaking, Prajapati art is comb cut using small
fine bamboo combs that are made by the "women
specifi cally for the putPose.
The Oraons sometimes use the curving basera
motif simil# to the Bhuiya. This design is a series of
semi-circles andhas a sacred significance as a mountain
and bamboo and is always drawn along the top of walls
on which the Khovar art is painted' The cutting reveals
the black ground beneath the over-coat, in a striking
design pattern. The Khovar is a highly symbolic art
filled with iconic forms andmandalas which are ritually
connected with marriage.
After the monsoon rains, village houses once
again require repair while the paddy has to be harvested'
Sohrai is the festival that celebrates cattle-drawnplough
agriculture as well as the domestication of the cow. The
art on the walls painted by the Devis marks a distinct
change from Khovar in that it celebrates a male god'
Pashupati - the Lord ofAnimals, in a Hinduized iconic
style. It is celebrated the day after Divali and is
connected with the return of Lord Ram.
In the murals Prajapati is shown standing on the
back of the bull. His body is in a shape similar to Shiva's
drum(damru) and around him is a wheel of six lotuses
representing the six senses. Shiva as the forest god is
shown in the form of a tree called Bhelwa and a similar
form is the "Flowery Trident" - the vertical lotus headed
form sprouting five or six horned triangles like the
Animal Wheel. He is also called Shiva and associated
with the Bhelwa tree.
Depiction of wild and domestic animals is inherent to this art form
Heritage India Nou"-b"r 08 -January 09
 8.

i.:q
Artists at work. This tradition is passed on fiom mother to daughter

Heritage India Not"-t"r 08 -Jmuary 09

 Sohrai is the art of fhe harvest t'estival. 'llre
nlrrre itsclf ccmes fi-cm am ancient Falaeolithic *''tire[,
rolo. literaXll meaning'fo drive lvirn a stick'" It is the
lcstiral of thc earil lvinter months lr,hen the paddy
hirs ripened and is about to he harvested. Thus it is
torincclcd rvith the orlgin nf agriculturc" Among fhe
Kurrni pcoplc in Ehehvana the rattle are taken out to
rcrv earlv in the morning, and rvashcd
tlrr,junglcs
rltcl grazing in the {brest ponds. Then they are
brougirt back ceremonially to the village w'herc thcl,
itrcrr clconred with a speciallS' painteci carpet knolvn
it: an " uripun" . The muntlulcs to lvelcome the cattle
back from the.iungle are made from riceflour and
rnilk in a kind o{'gruel ilhich lvhen dried on the
sparse brown earfh is brilliant white. The mandolas
itrr in the lorm of hoof-printse and sacred dots of
r rr rrrillion (birtdu) arc put at line j unctions.
Tile,:1ay arter Sohlai thcrc is a rroe k i-.Lrll-fIght rr,
w'iiich sacrcd ciittic, both b..rlls and brrllalocs;" bilgtrttil
tinointecl utitli. coior,rrcci spclts and rliXed honls. rLtc iili\cu
to p[:ists ir tlie crlssrcxrcis ot'thr: l iliage r,r,liere tlilcc ri, isc
nren sing to thetn" They are ticcl to thcsc posts,-.i" ..&,tlrirr
so thc 1'cstival is called" Khuia-banclhan. firc \\oileir
anoint alicl colour thc aninials befble thev alc broushi t,-t
the sacrccl post.
The Oraons hn-rie thrcc clistinctil,e afiistic stylcs.
Onc is very silxilar to thc Khovar o1' the ugluliuri
Hinduizccl Kunnis ancl tnay be seen in a r,r,:i1, lLrr rne ie irt
progenitor of thc style nor.r' in danger of bcing lost
arrlong the Oraon themsclrrcs. They only paint tlrcsc
anthropomolphic arrd zoorlorphic fomrs incloors. Tlre
secolld grcert art fbrnr of'the Oraons arc totcn'r poles or
khrta for the ancestols. The thrrd is a ciclrcate realistic
t1owery stylc with a fieshness of insect, bilcl. and aiiintal
lit'e not found elsewhere in Sohrai art.
Herita-UC Illdia sur.n,b.r 0E tnriLr\ 09 55
I
Near the villages of the Kurmis painting their
harvest aft are the Santals, who celebrate the cattle in the
spring month with simple floral and bird designs'
During maniages Santal bridegrooms paint their
courtyard with these designs. Down in the valley of the
Damodar we have the delicate floral art of the Prajapatis
who are potters, and the dark, heavy forms of the Ranas
who are carpenters, both comb-cut. Another heavy style
56 Heritage India nou"^u.r 08 -January 09
i-.-. .*
is that of the oil extracting Telis, while the basket-
making Turis have a light painted ar1. The Ganjus are a
farming tribe rn'ho depend on the jungles for subsistence'
Their densely forested environment in the southem part
of the Hazarlbagh plateau has brought them in close
proximity to wild flora and fauna. This is inevitably
reflected in their paintings. Their art is most vividly
depicted in painted murals done during the Khovar
marriage season from February to April.
 Floral and animal motifs show the synergy of life with nature

The Sohrai art ofHazarlbagh is best represented by

the grand painted horses, and the animal wheels, the
intertwining anthropomorphic floral Shiva and the
almost unbelievable creative originality of leaff forms,
painted in Bhelwara during the Sohrai festival. It is as
creative as the Khovar art and evokes a highly individual
charm different in many ways to the marriage art with its

Heritage India Nou"-u"r 08 -January 09 5'

 Decorated court yard symbolises life in tandem with nature
fertility symbols. presh and highly spontaneous in its
original outline made with a nall, (which the Ganju
artists sometimes use in making the first line of a
stupendous animal form). This is a long trailing line
later gone over with in a more studied if not less
whimsical line. In the Kurmi art of Sohrai in Bhelwara
village arunning redline, is later outlinedwith arunning
white line; or sometimes a black line is outlined with a
red and then a white line. The huge glyptic spaces made
with black and red ochre on the.floors is sometimes
echoed in red and white glyptic geometric designs on the
walls.
Meaning is the last important aspect of a
picture, and yet paradoxically it is the most
important. This is an eternal value transcending already in some way been shaped by the effects of afi
mythology and art aesthetics. The painted houses of aesthetics and merchandise. The original images left on
Hazalribaig|r. carry meanings for the tribal people of the walls for a few shorl months before they are worn
fertility and fecundity, of abundance and prosperify, away by sun or rain, are the real strengths of Khovar and
from familiar forms less than a few dozen in number. Sohrai mural painting in the villages of Hazaribagh-
Although Hindu icons have entered here and there, Though in the traditional house paintings of
the popular motifs are plants, fishes, birds and Hazarlbaghthere may be slight changes that have been
animals and some familiar icons of the mother introduced by the younger women, the web of tradition
goddess. retains its majestic continuity.

The actual nature of indigenous art is far removed The ancient rock paintings discovered in and
from an art form that has become mercantile and has around the North Karanpura Valley represent a

58 Heritage India No'"-u.r 08 -January 09

prehistorrc tradition of painting that belongs to the
Mesolithrc age, and perhaps much earlier since the
earliest levels seem to have faded out due to exposure
and the harsh weather conditions. But the presence of
Upper Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic habitation
sites close to the rock- ar1 caves has given credence to
the claim for a connection, and maybe the strongest
claim for a continuous evolution of indigenous societies
anywhere. The nomadic hunter-gatherer Birhor's claim
that their ancestors painted the rock-art, (and indeed
village traditions in the present Munda village of lsco
associate B,irhors with the rock-art caves) is not to be
taken lightly. The Prajapatis atrso say that the ancestors
of the Birhor painted the art. The rock-art has since time
immemorial been considered sacred and therefore not
spoken about and for the tribal people of the valley these
paintings signify their origin as a people and their notion
of personhood, as well as retlccting their deep
connection with their ancestral landscape. These rock
paintings and continuing traditions of village paintings
represent their spiritual symbiosis with their ancestors.
The Khovar murals
Hcritage lndia luurn,b"r 0E -JrnLrn 09 -59