Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand are changing their ways of painting Sohrai murals
Santhali Sohrai murals vary across regions, prominently featuring geometric shapes. The prominence given to geometry in the murals can be linked with the Santhal community's affinity for symmetrical precision in its architecture (Photographs: Deepanwita Gita Niyogi) On a journey across Keonjhar district of Odisha, one house in Hariharpur village literally beckons. Structurally, the mud house with tiled roofs is no different from most other dwellings across tribal villages in Odisha and neighbouring Jharkhand. But vibrant, attractive murals on the walls set the house apart. One that piques interest depicts two white swans on either side of a flower with pink petals, yellow at the centre and a thick green stem.
Such murals are part of a long tradition of the Santhal community that dominates Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha; East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts of Jharkhand; and Purulia district of West Bengal. Santhali women usually paint the walls of their houses to mark Sohrai, a harvest festival coinciding with Diwali or Kali Puja.
“Women in our village often compete with each other to make the prettiest murals during Sohrai,” says Sumati Marandi, who has made the swan mural. The art also adorns walls during ceremonies or special occasions, such as weddings and childbirth.
Social worker Jaypal Singh Sardar, a resident of Chandpur village in Potka block of East Singhbum, says murals are found in almost every village in the district. Apart from the Santhals, the Bhumij community in the district also paints them.
In 2020, Jharkhand received a Geographical Indication tag for its Sohrai art particularly for the murals painted by women in Hazaribagh district who do not belong to the Santhal tribe. However, these are quite different from the murals created by the Santhal tribe, says Justin Imam from Hazaribagh, who works on conservation of Sohrai art.
The murals of Hazaribagh are more primordial with different motifs, whereas the Santhali Sohrai art features only geometric shapes. Imam attributes this to the community's affinity for precision. “Their architecture is meticulous. Every Santhali has a raised platform outside their house that is symmetrical and involves geometry,” Imam says.
Besides, the women of Hazaribagh only use earth colours — red, black and white — for their murals. The north Karanpura valley of the district and its Satpahar and Sati hill ranges are rich in coal, iron and manganese deposits. Rivers flowing through these hills thus carry managanese-rich black clay, which is used for the art.
The creamy white clay or Kaolin is obtained from places where the rivers spread out, while the red colour is sourced from haematite or iron ore deposits in the rock shelter or prehistoric caves of the valley. Women soak these deposits and wash them to obtain the desired paint. Santhali women use similar clay materials for black and white colour. But for red, they use gravel or morrum derived from cutting earth, instead of haematite.
"Morrum is thought to be termite resistant and does not fade easily with rain,” says Imam.
Art in transition
These days, Santhali women use several other colours for their murals. “Young girls prefer using synthetic shades that are easily available in the market and cost Rs 40-50 a bottle,” says Pinky, Jaypal Singh Sardar's wife. Murals nowadays show off brighter (neon) shades of lime yellow, orange, pink and violet to blue, bottle green and reddish maroon. Some also create colours by mixing two or more shades.
Back in Hariharpur village, one can see even attractively coloured doors that complement wall murals. Marandi’s door is elaborately painted blue, red and green.
One wall usually takes one or two days, depending on the intricacy of the murals, she says. Before painting, she sometimes makes rough patterns with a pencil and scale. If satisfied, she then fills in the colour by wrapping a small cloth on a stick or twig. But indulging in this artwork is a luxury. “With a family to look after and household work, I find it difficult to devote much time," Marandi says.
Concrete houses replacing the mud and tiled ones also have an impact on the traditional Sohrai art. In Erandi village of Keonjhar, Shyamsundar Baskey's love for murals did not end even after he shifted to a concrete house, where he has covered the interior walls with floral murals.
“While drawing on mud walls, we needed large quantities of colour. The murals also used to get washed away during the heavy monsoon that the forested parts of Keonjhar receive. Compared to that, murals on cement are long-lasting," Baskey says. He, however, admits that the murals on concrete interiors lack the natural charm of mud walls.
This was first published in Down To Earth’s print edition (dated 1-15 February, 2022)
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