Khovar Art of Jharkhand. The tribal villages of Hazaribagh area in Jharkhand have an age-old painting tradition known as the khovar art. This painting form of the tribes in Jharkhand represents the social and religious tradition of the village people in which they prepare a wedding room for the bride and groom.The two major art forms that are prevalent in Hazaribagh and the nearby villages in Jharkhand are sohrai and khovar. These art forms are found on the tribal huts in hazaribagh and adjorning villages where they paint bold and figurative murals, typically sohrai paintings are based on the harvest season in the village whereas the khovar art are based on marriage season.
Khovar art artists use their personal experiences and their day to day interactions with the nature to paint, also it is an age old tradition that is passed on from mothers to their daughters in the form of legacy in which the main motifs focused on are that of fertility and fecundity symbols as well some figures inspired by the surroundings. Other themes of these paintings were influenced by forest forms like sketching of the elephants, deers, tigers, snakes and peacocks drawn by the forest-dwelling adivasis and figures like those of cows, pigeons, goats, lotus, etc, were drawn by domestic and river dwelling adivasis.
KHOVAR ART FORM AND ISCO ROCK ART
A rock art site was discovered in ISCO village of Barkagaon, Hazaribagh in 1991 by Shri Bulu Imam who then spread awareness about it. According to the Archeological survey of India, this rock art dated back to the 3000 to 7000 BC and the paleolithic age. Many stone tools were found near to the ISCO rock art site. Following that, An uncanny similarity was found between the khovar tribal wall art and the rock art of ISCO, suggesting that the ISCO rock art might have been passed down to the locals as a cultural heritage.
KHOVAR ART AND MARRIAGE SEASON
Khovar, also known as kohbar which is derived out of 2 words – ‘Koh’ meaning cave and bar meaning bridegroom. In the states of bihar and jharkhand, a khovar is a chamber or a hut of the newly wed couple which is decorated by their family to bless the couple. Sometimes paintings are done in black and white, but they can be multicoloured too. The wedding season in the villages of jharkhand starts from january and runs until the monsoon starts in june. These paintings are a matrimonial tradition that takes place during these months wherein the females of the village along with the mother of the bride paint the walls of the kohbar where the marriage rituals are to be performed. This painting skill is then passed on to the daughters who then pass it on to countless generations.
The married women of the households were considered as the mother goddesses, and were worshiped as Devi’s after they get married. Anything that the married girl did was considered to be a trait passed on to her by her mother as a gift. Only the devi’s were allowed to make these sacred paintings related to harvests and marriages because they were a symbol of good luck. Not only were these paintings a mere art form, but the women also considered it to be a source of satisfaction for them which involves regular repairing of their houses and also decorations.
HOW IS KHOVAR ART CREATED
The most used colours in these paintings are black and white, these are natural earth colours which were either hunted for in forests or bought from local stores. Artists used fabric pieces to apply paint on the walls and comb pieces to scratch and form motifs. The process of these paintings is as follows-
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