Ltd. p Jain, J., & Aggarwala, A National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum New Delhi. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt.

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2 Traditional art forms, figures and ritual drawing with which an average Indian is conditioned both by participation and observation exist all through the centuries. Primitive man was unaware of words, but he was able to draw a picture of an animal with a tail, a hand and four legs or a human figure with a pin head and simply four line for his arms and legs for the people to understand. Any figure that is drawn as a part of some ritual composition not only communicates the visual figure in naked lines bue unfolds something more than what it symbolizes. A stylized representation of the sun and the moon do not simply mean the Sun and Moon but they also communicate the sense of heat and silvery night or represent long life and good fortune. India s rural arts are the visual expression and technological process of people living at several cultural, religious and sociological levels. These arts are the arts of the settled village and country side of people with lives turned to the rhythm of nature and its laws and with a central concern with the earth and harvesting 1 The main feature of these arts is to infuse group emotions using several motifs and designs which emerge from deep subconscious experience and the intrinsic 1 Jain, J., & Aggarwala, A National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum New Delhi. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd. p. 8. 2

3 meaning of these may certainly be different in terms of our aesthetic reaction. Now the canvas of these arts are either reduced in Figure 58 A Trabal Worldview by Jivya Soma Mahse size or changed from walls and floors to paper and fabric but these paintings achieved a much wider visibility and their skills came to be appreciated and rewarded by a growing audience, A sea change occurred in the recognition given to Warli Paintings, when Jivya Soma Mahse was awarded the National Award by All India Handicrafts Board in 1976 for a painting that depicts the tribal worldview and scenes from Warli tribal life showing a palaghat deity in a square as the central motif. Village activities dancing groups, animals and trees 3

4 cover the total canvas. Interestingly the colors yellow, red and blue are used along with white showing that these effects were the beginning of individualism and creativity in these paintings. Warli men got more recognition largely due to the efforts of Jivya Soma Mahse who painted his own worldview on large canvas sketching his imagination beyond the repetitive drawings of Kansari, the Corn Goddess. He broke open the shell of traditional thought and moved ahead to paint what he saw and experienced with his exposure to a large world. As his view of the world expanded, he does not alter the technique or the colors although sometimes the tools used to draw and paint were changed (Gupta, 2008) 2. One such painting is shown below in which Jivya Soma Mahse presented a very different view from traditional Warli Folk paintings. This picture is taken from the book of Jivya Soma Mahse The Warlis Tribal Paintings and Legends (the Naughty Wife). She was newly married and would not go to her husband for she had a lover. All the village knew and some of them were determined to catch her and make her mend her ways. As dusk turned to night she slipped out and was on her way to meet her lover. The watchful villagers stopped her. One of them threw 2 Gupta, C. S Indian Folk and Tribal Paintings. New Delhi: Roli Books. p

5 a garland of itchy nettles round her neck. Your place is by your husband. We shall see that you have a change of heart. As she itched and squirmed they pleaded with her, trying to make her see sense. At length, torn by guilt and unable to bear her garland of nettles, she repented. I will do as you say. I will go to my husband. They freed her and led her home. 3 Figure 59 The Naughty Wife Initially the painters tried to rain in their imaginations picking up motifs and designs from the traditional paintings and reflecting them to suit an urban audience. The main content and characters of the drawing thus remained unaltered in essence. But with exposure to new places and markets the worldview of painters began 3 Mahse, J. S. The Warlis Tribal Paintings and Legends. Bombay: Chemould publications and Arts. 5

6 to change. Slowly they began to synchronize their new vision with the traditional motifs on paper and fabric. To properly understand the Warli paintings, a considerable research work still needs to be done, however a lot of literature on this subject has become available during the past few years, but most of them are only in regional languages. The charm of this tribal art, motifs, designs and also the colour scheme have unfolds several potentialities. Art magazines and the world of fabric designs have begun to utilize Warli motifs both as they are and as they should have been (Parmar, 1975) 4. Figure 60 Warli Designs (Deighty Worship and Tarpa Dance) 4 Parmar, S Traditional Folk Media in India. New delhi: Geka Books. 6

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