Tapovan Retreat

Warli Art Panting

This ancient art of warli painting is still alive. It has a rustic blend and could be cultivated and encouraged for contemporary décor. To get a real feel of this art one has to visit SANTOSH WARLI STUDIO AT BORDI. It is located on Bordi Aswali Road across the Rail crossing in the hamlet of Lavaripada. It is about 2 kms from Tapovan Retreat.

Santosh is one of the few active warli painterwith 22 years experience. He does a professional job. His whole family (wife - Kalpana & daughter -Devika) are steeped in warli paintings. The studio is located in their own rustic hut and you can see various paintings displayed.

Santosh also conducts workshops for persons interested in learning this art. In the past a lot of foreign tourist were also interested . A glimps of the work painted in the studio and progress of workshops is given below:

The Tribals of Dahanu Taluka

In the local Lingo they are known as WARLI. The tribe is one of the largest in India and spans across Palghar District. Dahanu Taluka has a very large concentration of warlis.

The Warli of today is very different from his ancestors about 3 to 4 decades ago. They have been influenced by the growing commercialization of rural India.

To still get a feel of the Warli culture one has to visit the village of Aswali, about 8 kms from Bordi. The old mud huts are slowly giving way to pucca houses. Bicycles are being gradually replaced by two wheelers. Agricultural livelihood is soon being taken over by industrial units in the neighboring town of Umargam in Gujatart .

The women work force is being gradually pulled into factories. Organized private bus service is arranged to take workers in the morning and return in evening. The chickoo orchards and coconut groves have been the victim of this transitional shift.
The warli culture is basically nature driven. They love nature and are proud of their small land holdings. In monsoon they grow paddy and are proud to consume it in the coming months as long as it lasts.

A traditional feature of their harvest festival was the “Tarpa Dance”. Tarpa is an indigenous musical instrument made from dried pumpkin. Men & Women dance merrily around the Tarpa player who also lakes on the role of a snake charmer an all follow him in merriment.

Warli paintings is an art which even to-day is alive. It should not be allowed to die. In the next part of the article, Warli Painting will be covered in detail.

A brief glimpse of Warli Paintings: