Tribal Art and Craft - Pune Tribal Museum ( Part 3 )

 Tribal Art and Craft is a section in the Pune Tribal Museum, located in Pune, State Maharashtra.

Location - Tribal Research and Training Institute Campus

City - Pune

District - Pune

State - Maharashtra

Address -

28, Queen's Garden

Near Old Circuit House

Bund Garden Road

Pune - 411 001

Maharashtra

Of the seven sections in the Pune Tribal Museum, Tribal Art and Crafts primarily showcases paintings and handicrafts of the featured tribes in the state of Maharashtra.

The Warli tribe based in the coastal areas of Maharashtra have their typical style of painting that has become increasingly popular due to exposure to the outside world. The Warli paintings are primarily done by the womenfolk inside their hut walls and that also on special occasions like a wedding or harvest season. They prepare the walls by applying a mixture of red earth and cow dung as a base and the drawing material is made of rice paste mixed with water and a binding glue. The paintings are very simplistic in the sense that they make use of geometrical figures like the circle, triangles, squares and   lines to convey the theme which consist of their religious beliefs, simple nomadic lifestyle, natural events, everyday tasks like hunting, farming, fishing, trees, animals, dances, festivals and harvests. The Museum does them sufficient justice with the display of the paintings in an attractive manner. 

Next artefacts are the Bohada masks made by the tribal people from the districts of Thane, Nashik and Khandesh. These paper mache masks depict 52 Gods, Goddesses, animals, ancestral spirits, Demons, Clan Gods, characters from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Bohada is the festival arranged by the tribals in honour of their village deity, signifying victory of good over evil. 

This festival is arranged either on the festival of Holi, or around / after festivals of Hanuman Jayanti, Gudi Padwa, Nag Panchmi, Ram Navami etc.

Dance and drama shows are performed by the actors wearing these colourful, elaborate and detailed masks. The masks are treated with utmost respect and are worshipped before the festival begins. 

Other handicrafts on display are various tribal  Bamboo baskets and craft pieces. 

All in all, this section is fascinating to say the least.

Picture of Warli painting source - dollsofindia.com

Bohada masks pictures - indianculture.gov.in

Please refer to the main post

Pune Tribal Museum for more details.