India is a diverse country characterised by distinct languages, and rich cultural traditions. The folk and tribal arts of India express the cultural diversity of the country and provide a window through which one can explore the rich heritage.
“Indian Folk Art” dates back to a period that may be referred to as “timeless”. Folk and tribal painting come from the remote rural and tribal regions. The various painting forms coming from these regions began not just as a painting but also as a religious ritual performed daily. It began with painting the walls and floor of mud houses. Various religions and symbols are also seen within the painting.
Folk art is the art created among groups that exist within the framework of existing society, but, for geographical and cultural reasons, are largely separated from the sophisticated developments of time. As a result, they produce distinctive styles and objects for local needs and tastes. In folk tradition, art is nourishment to the daily life of the people. Whether he is a potter from Tamilnadu, who creates a massive terracotta or a tribal from Madhya Pradesh who creates Pithora” painting, geography has control over the medium of art. In the case of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar we can find folk paintings on the walls of the houses. In this regard, artist-writer, Haku Shah writes, “When a tribal touch a blade of grass, gourd or bead, fibre, twig, grain, pin, plastic button, conch shell, feather, leaf of flower, he sees through it, smells it, hears it, and therein starts the ritual of being with it.” Each part of India with it’s own trees and plants, birds and animals, has inspired Indian folk artists to have multiple metaphors, series of symbols and innumerable images to build a rich treasure-house of art.
