Sohrai – Khovar Painting

Sohrai-Khovar Painting is a ritualistic tribal painting with distinct features, traditionally practised mainly in mural art form in Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand. It is a profusion of lines, dots, animal figures and plants, often representing religious iconography. Sohrai is a local festival whereas Khovar is a nuptial chamber designed and decorated to bless the newly married couple. In local traditional practice, during Sohrai festival and in Khovars, ritualistic mural paintings are done on the walls. It is one of the oldest art forms of wall painting. Traditionally, unique and only locally available natural materials are used for the Sohrai- Khovar Painting, which includes twig toothbrush (Datwan) i.e chewed twigs of Saal tree and soil of different kinds and colours. The soil used for white colour is plain kaolin; yellow is a natural earth ochre; the black is a kind of manganese earth; the red is the natural red earth colour or ground haematite stone.