Warli Tribe

The  Warli   or   Varli   are an indigenous tribe  of western India,   living in mountainous as well as coastal areas along the Maharashtra -Gujarat  border and surrounding areas. They are considered by some to be a sub-caste of the Bhil  tribe .  The Warli have their own animistic  beliefs, life, customs, and traditions, and as a result of a cculturation,  they have adopted many Hindu beliefs . The Warli speak the unwritten Varli language which belongs to the southern zone of the Indo-Aryan languages . Waralis have sub castes such as Murde varli, Davar varali.  

The  Warli  tribe is one of the largest in India, located outside Mumbai. Till the 1970s, even though the tribal style of art is thought to date back as early as the 10th century A.D. The  Warli  culture is centered on the concept of Mother Nature and elements of nature are often focal points depicted in  Warli  painting.

Warli  painting  is of  tribal art  mostly created by the tribal people from the   North  Sahyadri Range  in Maharashtra, India.  Their extremely rudimentary wall paintings use a very basic graphic vocabulary: a circle, a triangle, and a square. Their paintings were monosyllabic. The circle and triangle come from their observation of nature, the circle representing the sun and the moon, and the triangle derived from mountains and pointed trees. Only the square seems to obey a different logic and seems to be a human invention, indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. So, the central motive in each ritual painting is the square, known as the "chauk" or "chaukat", mostly of two types:  Devchauk  and  Lagnachauk .  This range encompasses cities such as  Dahanu ,  Talasari ,  Jawhar ,  Palghar ,  Mokhada , and  Vikramgad  of the  Palghar  district. This tribal art was origin...

  The Warli tribe hails from the Thane district of Maharashtra. They speak the Warli language and have   rich folklore encompassing their beliefs, traditions, and rites.  The tribal people are a unique group who have been able to retain their identity through the ages. Not much is known about them as they are one of the lesser-known tribes in India.

Warli art is a tribal art, these are handmade paintings by tribal people of India. It is a traditional art made by  tribal Adivasi   people also known as   Warlis . This art was originated in Maharashtra. The warli tribe is one of the  largest  Adivasi  tribes  located outside of Mumbai. Warli art is also known as  folk style of painting . It is primarily used for decoration purpose rather than purely aesthetic. Originally Warli  paintings use white pigment made from a mixture of rice paste and water and a bamboo stick  as a paintbrush. Warli do not accept much of contemporary culture, they have their own cultural belief, value and norms for life. These paintings are mainly done to  represent a sense of togetherness . Warli Art revolves around the mother nature by giving more  importance to nature and wildlife .  Their art form symbolizes the balance of the universe.

The peasant struggle of the Warli tribe occurred in the year 1945 in the Thane district of Maharashtra. Thane became a site of struggle primarily with its huge tribal population among whom the Warlis comprised approximately 55 %   of the population. The demands of the struggle were also related to their contemporary problems which were largely feudal atrocities. The practice of  lagnagadi  (bonded married servants who were not allowed to migrate) and  vethi  (customary free labor) were the main issues. Another issue was the demand for a rise in wages for grass-cutting in the fields of landlords. The nature of work was such that both the men and women were employed in these activities by the landlords. Hence, this struggle also saw active and aggressive participation of women ranging from adolescents to the elderly. Further, the visionary contribution of leaders like Godavari Parulekar and Shamrao Parulekar gave an impetus to the movement. As expected, th...