Warli Paintings

Warli is the name of the largest tribe found at the outskirts of Mumbai, Maharashtra The term 'warli' has its etymological roots in 'warla' meaning a piece of land or field. There is a belief among the historians that the tradition of Warli dates back to the Age between 2,500 BC and 3,000 BC. This has since moved across the territories and borders and has now become a precious possession of several art lovers and collectors. The Warlis are mainly a tribe dependant on agriculture and they live in thatched mud-huts, which are built is such a way that they all encircle a central cell. The houses of Warlis are decorated with a vocabulary of patterns. This practice encouraged to what it is presently called the Warli Paintings. Warli paintings largely demonstrate the basic components of life which are the primary themes or basis of any tribe. Warli art holds a special characteristic of exhibiting the humble life led by the Warli tribe. 

Symbolism in Warli Paintings 

Birds, trees, women and men get together to form a composite whole in the paintings of the tribe and the Warli Paintings among them form the happiest celebration of the concerned philosophy. Even spiral formations of men and women and concentric circular designs in Warli Paintings are symbolic of the circle of life. There are several paintings which look very simple but are symbolic. The balance and harmony presented in these paintings is thought to symbolize the balance and harmony of the universe. Dissimilar to other art forms of tribes, the Warli Paintings do not take the help of religious images, thus, making the paintings more secular in nature. 

The most frequent theme of Warli paintings is marriage. Several paintings portray the marriage god called Palghat, attended by a horse and the groom and the bride. They consider these paintings sacred. Men and women dancing in circles, during various celebrations, is another theme typical to the Warli Paintings. Fauna and flora are also presented in these paintings. In recent times, these paintings also include a few modern elements like bicycles or transistors tucked in corners of the paintings. 

The cracked village walls of Warli have been decorated with paintings for centuries and still today they act as the most prominent decoration of a majority of such houses. Great epics or mythology are not narrated in the Warli paintings. Warli paintings on paper have now become very famous and have their markets all over India. Today small paintings are done on clothes but it looks best on walls. Painted on mud, surface based on charcoal along with rice paste in order to get the white colour the Warli paintings deal with themes which speak about the social activities and lifestyle of the Warlis. The relaxed rhythmic movement suggested by each of the paintings gives life to it. 

Certain basic Warli Paintings portray some rudimentary graphic vocabulary: a triangle, a circle and a square. The paintings are mainly monosyllabic. The triangles and circle are on the footprints from their observation of nature; the circle represents moon and sun, and triangle derived from trees and mountains. Square obeys different logic. The central idea of each ritual painting is the square which is known as "Chauk" or "chaukat", mostly of two types: Lagnachauk and Devchauk. 

Male gods take unusual shapes among the Warli paintings and are related to spirits which have taken human shapes. The central design in these ritual paintings is surrounded by scenes portraying fishing, hunting and farming, festivals and dances, trees and animals. 

The bodies of humans are mainly represented by two triangles joined at the tip; the upper triangle represents the trunk and the lower triangle the pelvis. Their unstable balance symbolizes the stability of the universe, and of the couple, and has the sensible and humorous advantage of animating the bodies. 

In Warli paintings it is rare to see a straight line. A series of dots and dashes make one line. The artists have recently started to draw straight lines in their paintings. These days, even men have taken to painting and they are often done on paper incorporating traditional decorative Warli motifs with modern elements such as the bicycle, etc. Warli paintings on paper have become very popular and are now sold all over India. Today, small paintings are done on cloth and paper but they look best on the walls or in the form of huge murals that bring out the vast and magical world of the Warlis. For the Warlis, tradition is still adhered to but at the same time new ideas have been allowed to seep in which helps them face new challenges from the market.