Warli Paintings

Introduction
Warli art is a beautiful folk art of Maharashtra, created by the womens of Warli tribe. Warli is the, tribe found on the northern outskirts of Mumbai, in Western India. Warli Art was first explored in the early seventies. It is believed that the art originated in the early 10th century AD. Warli people express themselves in vivid styles through paintings which they execute on the walls of their house. This was the only means of transmitting folklore to a populace not acquainted with the written word. Madhubani.

Warli paintings were mainly done by the women folk. The most important aspect of the painting is that it does not depicts mythological characters or images of deities, but depict social life. Pictures of human beings and animals, along with scenes from daily life are created in a loose rhythmic pattern. Warli paintings are painted white on mud walls. The paintings are beautifully executed and resembles pre-historic cave paintings in execution and usually depict scenes of human figures engaged in activities like hunting, dancing, sowing and harvesting.

Color and Themes
The painting is done on an austere mud base using one color, white, with occasional dots in red and yellow. This colour is obtained from grounding rice into white powder. This sobriety is offset by the ebullience of their content. Warli paintings representing Palghat, the marriage god, often include a horse used by the bride and groom. This type of painting is considered sacred and without it, the marriage cannot take place. These paintings also serve social and religious aspirations of the local people. It is believed that these paintings invoke powers of the Gods. Geometric designs dominate most paintings; dots and crooked lines are the units of these compositions. The appeal of these unicolor compositions lies in their lack of pretentiousness in conveying the profound.

Modern Trends
Warli artists hardly use a straight line. Instead of line, series of dots and dashes are made. However nowadays modern artists have begun to draw straight lines in their paintings. Warlis have also started to use modern elements such as the bicycle, etc apart from traditional motifs.
Warlis are now shifting to paper and cloth paintings. 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.

Symbolism in Warli Paintings
Every symbols of Warli art has their own meaning and language. Men and women in spiral form and concentric circular designs in Warli Paintings symbolize the circle of life. The harmony and balance depicted in these paintings is supposed to signify the harmony and balance of the universe.