THE INDIGINEOUS ART OF HAZARIBAGH

January 4, 2022 superadmin superadmin 0 Comments

Sohrai and khovar art are known as the state art of Jharkhand. The world of this folk art inhabits peacocks, sparrow, elephant, and other forest lives. It is a matriarchal tradition handed down from mother to daughter. Artisans use natural colours to create these paintings, extracted from different kind of soils and rocks.

Sohrai is a five-day festival to celebrate the winter harvest and is accompanied by various rituals, dancing, singing and merry making. This art form is either monochromatic or extremely colourful. Artisans first coat the wall with white mud and while the coat is wet they paint the wall with chewed saal wood sticks or with their fingertips.  Sohrai paintings are considered to be a goodluck charm.

Whereas khovar was traditionally for decorating the marriage chambers of the bride and groom. The word Khovar is derived from two words, Kho which means cave and Var which means husband. It is in the months of marriage seasons that khovar designs are painted by the mother of the brides as a part of their matrimonial ritual

In 1991, environment activist, Bulu Imam discovered a rock art near Hazaribagh, since then he had been active in showcasing the art of sohrai and khovar to the world. Recently sohrai and khovar paintings received the Geographical Indication tag, GI tag is basically granted to those products which hails from a specific geographical region and possess unique qualities.