Hello friends.

In continuation with my previous post I would like to mention another type of painting. This is known as Warli painting. Warlis are found in the northern districts of Thane district, parts of Nashik and Dhule districts of Maharashtra, in some districts of Gujarat, and Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Warli’s have their own dialect which is a mixture of Khandesi Bhili, Gujarati and Marathi. Besides, they also speak Gujarati and Marathi.

The paintings done by these people are known as Warli paintings. They are paintings which mainly use basic shapes like circle, triangles and squares. The circles come from their view of the sun and moon and triangles from the mountains and peaks. Their painting is rudimentary and is ritualistic. Mostly the female Goddesses are portrayed, and the main theme of painting is usually related to fishing, hunting, faring, dancing, rituals and the like. Humans and animals are depicted by two triangles that are joined at the tip. The top depicts the trunk, while the bottom triangle depicts the pelvis.

The Warli’s normally paint on the inner walls of the huts. They use white for painting, which is a mixture of rice flour paste and water with gum for binding. They use bamboo sticks chewed on the edges as a brush. It is the women who normally do these paintings and these paintings are mostly on special occasions like weddings and festivals.

These days, the art has gained popularity. Today, they are painted on cloth (usually red or black), paper (with white paint). What interests me most in this art form is their simplicity. Here’s a simple Warli painting that has been done by my daughter. This has been painted by her on an earthenware plate. After painting it fully in black, she has painted the design in white.

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