Jharkhand, India
Sohrai
Sohrai is a harvest festival painting tradition from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, created by women of the Santali, Munda, and Oraon communities on the walls of their homes. Using natural earth pigments, these paintings celebrate the bond between humans, animals, and the natural world.
History
The Story Behind the Art
Sohrai paintings are created annually during the Sohrai festival, which marks the end of the harvest. The paintings celebrate cattle — central to the festival — along with birds, trees, and other natural forms.
The tradition was largely unknown outside Jharkhand until the 1980s. Bulu Imam played a key role in bringing Sohrai and Khovar to national and international attention.
In 2023, Sohrai and Khovar were jointly inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Techniques
How It Is Made
Sohrai paintings are created on freshly plastered mud walls using fingers, combs, and brushes made from twigs and grass. The palette is derived entirely from natural earth sources.
Animals are depicted in profile with bold outlines and solid colour fills, arranged in processions. Tree and plant motifs fill the spaces between figures.
Materials Used
- •Mud-plastered wall, cloth, or handmade paper
- •Natural earth pigments (laterite, kaolin, manganese)
- •Fingers, combs, and twig brushes
- •Natural gum for paper/cloth work
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