Fantastic, awe inspiring Gond art

Gond art draws its name from the largest tribe of central India viz the Gond tribe. They, as per the latest records, have a population of more than 4 million people. They date back in existence to 14^th Century AD and were localized in the erstwhile undivided central India which would roughly encompass the present states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India. Post the Mughal invasions they were found scattered among the states of Maharashtra (Nagpur region), Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Tribals are known to be the earliest civilizations and one of the largest tribal civilizations of India are the Gonds. Apparently they don’t find a mention in the modern scriptures and seemingly little research has been done on their culture and genealogy.

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The art form, derived from popular beliefs, narratives and customs of these tribals, is vivid, imaginative and has enchanting elements of fantasy. An elephant whose trunk grows into a tree with flowers and birds in it…a mermaid…a flying fish, a tree with animal heads as its roots, a lady with a serpent braid sliding down her back and many more. What might seem like a fairly tale at the outset has a deeper thought to it. The tribals of the Gondvana region have a strong sense of belonging and faith in natural deities. They worship nature in all its forms and consider it the supreme power – the mother of all! These good old traditions and beliefs have a strong influence on the paintings they make.

Seen above are Shailendra and Sushila from our team practising Gond art since decades. They opine that “Traditional Gond art was made using natural pigments from charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, and cow dung on the walls of caves. These days artists use synthetic colours and mostly the paintings are centred around local tribal festivals.” The Gond artists make patterns and figures using dots, lines, dashes and fish scales. What is extremely intriguing is that each Gond artist has his/her own signature style developed by his use of distinct patterns and motifs in filling the creatures, the super human beings and objects that he paints. The more recent works have drawn from a curious relationship between humans, nature and technology. Enthralled and smitten by this art, we have tried our bit in creating a range of products in this art form suiting modern tastes which can be seen on our website product pages. Our range of Gond art form products include Gond art Ram heads, wooden wall plates, table top decor, wooden wall accents and decor etc.

Explore 15 most fascinating art forms from India.