Maharashtra's Warli tribal art gets global space

Warli art is today one of the most popular and easily recognizable traditional art forms of Maharashtra and has gained recognition among the urban population as well.

The art has now been globally recognised thanks to the efforts of Jivya Soma Mashe (1934-2018), who popularised it internationally.

The Warli community can be found majorly in Palghar, Thane, Mumbai, and near the Gujarat border and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

It's as simple but complex – and that's what makes it unique.

Painted in white on mud walls, with occasional dots in red and yellow, Warli art depicts the tribe’s traditional lifestyle. Using only a circle, a triangle, and a square, the monosyllabic ritual wall paintings often surround themes of hunting, fishes, dances, trees, and animals.

The symbolism in Warli art represents the circle of life. The triangle symbolises mountains and trees. The square indicates a sacred enclosure for the mother goddess, symbolising fertility, while the circle represents the sun and the moon. The upward-facing triangle in a Warli painting represents the male while the downward-facing triangle represents the female. Human and animal bodies are represented by two triangles joined at the tip – the upper trunk and the lower pelvis.

One of the unique aspects depicted in many Warli paintings is the Tarpa dance. The Tarpa, a trumpet-like instrument, is played in turns by different village men. Men and women entwine their hands and move in a circle around the Tarpa player.

Mohit Bagadia, founder of Swadesee, an interactive travel marketplace, said, “Warli art depicts the tribe’s culture, traditions, and customs through simple shapes and figures that are derived from nature. It encapsulates the daily life of tribals and this is how the art form came into existence. Their idea was never to sell but preserve their culture through art. It was a way of life for them.”

Sachin Satvi, President of Adivasi Yuva Shakti, an NGO, said traditional colours used in Warli painting are Geru (Laal maati), Rice Powder paste (Tandul Pith), Cow dung Paste (Shen), coal powder, natural gum, and adhesives from trees, but nowadays modern colors are used as per base material.

While it’s not clear how long the Warlis have been around, Yashodhara Dalmia, an art historian, and independent curator, claims in her book ‘The Painted World Of The Warlis’ that they are carrying on a tradition that dates back to 2500 to 3000 BC.

According to Satvi, as it's a traditional painting, there are specific cultural rituals when various pictorial representations are done.

Each occasion uses different figures and mediums: Sati (pictorial symbols on wall, newborn baby welcoming to community), Nadar (pictorial symbols on the ground for showing health status in villages), Kanaa (pictorial symbols on the ground for various occasions), Fadaache Dev (pictorial representation of family gods on canvass), Gavar (pictorial representation on wall and ground for welcoming nature), Lagin Chauk and Dev Chauk (pictorial representation on the central hall wall for marriage without which marriage is not considered as complete).

Each of these stages have different calendars and are performed accordingly.