Oraon artist Anamika Bhagat of Chhattisgarh during the National Seminar about tribal life held on Friday at Loyola College of Social Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram. | Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
Each of her painting tells the story. In one, the tribe cleans the land in the forest to manage and grow food. In another they are depicted as singing and dancing in front of three branches of the Karma tree in connection with the Harvest festival. “The festival takes place on Ekadashi in the month” Bhado “and takes the name from the Karma tree. After the loan and all night songs and dances, the branches Karma are transported to all houses in the village where they offer it.
Anamics, which is in the state capital for the two -day seminar “Blash of Mother Life: Knowledge and Intangible expressions organized by Loyola College of Social Sciences in cooperation with Kirtady, Kozhikode, explains that their art, also called Oraon, was published from production.
The paintings of Oraon’s artist Anamice Bhagat of Chhattisgarh, appeared on Thursday during the national seminar on tribal life held on Thursday at Loyola College of Social Sciences in Thiruvananthapurama. | Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
Traditionally, when Oraon cleaned his houses and prepared them for festivals, they used their fingers to draw arched patterns called Oraon Banna on the wall. These patterns were drawn from right to left using black mud.
“Gradually, we started to integrate our everyday life, festivals, traditions, clothing, agriculture and nature not only on the walls, but also on canvas, sheets and other media,” says anamics, which started Oraon Art only ten years ago.
Long process
Different types of soil are used for Oraon art. However, black soil is not easily accessible; One has to go to the woods in our village and dig to find it. “In addition to black soil we use green leaves and other natural substances. We can use acrylic colors if asked, but that’s not what we usually use in our works,” he says.
The soil must be soaked in water for several days to make it soft and art. Different lands may contain sand in different dimensions and must therefore be separated. The glue is then added to the soil. On the canvas, the background must dry out completely before continuing with the rest of the painting.
Maintaining an art alive
Anamics, which comes from the village of Shaila in the district of Jashpur, Chhattisgarh, but lives in Bopal, Madhya Pradesh, says there are very few oraon artists in their community. Anamics and her older sister Sumanti Devi are the only ones from their village who actively participate in maintaining Oraon alive. “Some other members of our family also make oraon paintings, but we mostly did visitors, interviews and other events.”
Migration for education and employment also represents an obstacle. When the younger generation is hardly at home, how they know the importance of maintaining our cultural traditions alive, he asks.
“We hope that our family members are moving Oraon Art forward. We also want to teach anyone who is interested in the learning of Oraon, so that the next generation knows about our culture.”
“I will continue to do Oraon Art until I can be able to,” says anamics, who participated in a number of exhibitions and events to popularize Oraon Art.
Published – August 8, 2025 20:24
