Introduction
Bhils are the second biggest tribal community of India residing in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Although Gonds and Bhils live in the same state yet their culture is completely different. Also, the flora and fauna of these tribes are completely different.
Gonds live in the lush green forest of Satpura whereas Bhil comes from the mountain range of Vindh which is treeless and dry.
Bhil is considered prehistoric and you can easily find their mention in Ramayan, Vishnu Puran, Shiv Puran, etc. Even Lord Krishna died by an arrow of Bhil warrior.
Some historians consider them to exist before Dravidian and Aryan races.
Bhil Art - Origin
Bhil art is one of the best examples of traditional art. Bhil tribes believe nature has a soul. They consider plants, tree animals, and even non-living things to have powers and God lives in them.
Bhil tribes worship these divine powers and they are called ‘Pithora’.
Worshipping of Pithora is the main festival for the Bhils.
Bhil community worship Pithora by singing and painting.
Pithora is more than the name of a festival: it’s a distinct ritual wall-painting tradition in its own right, with its own history and its own Geographical Indication (GI) tag, granted 14 September 2021 to Gujarat’s Rathwa community, who practise it in the Chhota Udaipur and Panchmahal districts alongside Bhil, Bhilala and Nayaka artists. A Pithora painting is not made on a set schedule. It is commissioned by a family after a vow (mannat) to Baba Pithora and Pithori Rani is fulfilled, following an illness, a failed harvest, or another resolved hardship, as a form of thanksgiving.
Two specific roles carry out the ritual. The badva is the ritual specialist who determines that a Pithora is owed and oversees the ceremony. The lakhara (or lakhindra) are the trained painters who carry out the work in teams over one to three days, accompanied by singing and drumming. The number of horses in the mural follows two recognised types: Ardho Pithoro, roughly five to nine horses, and Akho Pithoro, around eighteen horses including celestial riders.
How Bhil Art started
Like Gond Art, Bhil Art also started from mud walls. Thanks to J.Swamithan who recognized and groomed this artwork. Padamshri Bhuri Bai who was one of the labourer of Bharat Bhawan was one of the 1 st ladies to draw Bhil art on Canvas
In the stories of the paintings, Pithoara God’s horses can fly to the sky, land, and hades.
According to Eshita Nimje, one of the new age artists who practices all types of folk and tribal art –
“Bhil Art is like a fairy tale, the amalgamation of a colorful world with the cycle of life, where we are visitors passing through, observing and acknowledging the deepest antiquity of our civilization.”
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Bhuri Bai learned wall painting and mud-hut building from her mother, Jhabbu Bai, as a child. She was earning around six rupees a day as a construction labourer at Bharat Bhavan when J. Swaminathan, the same artist who discovered and mentored Jangarh Singh Shyam, the figure behind Gond painting’s move to canvas, noticed her wall paintings and invited her to try the same forms on paper. Beyond the Padma Shri, her honours include the Ahalya Samman (1998) and the Rani Durgavati Award. Her work is held in the collection of the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, and the Museum of Art & Photography in Bangalore has built a full retrospective of her work with her direct involvement.
Lado Bai made the same transition alongside Bhuri Bai, from the same Bharat Bhavan site. Her work draws specifically on Pithora, a ritual mural tradition historically restricted to men, which she adapted onto paper and canvas. Her subjects centre on the animal kingdom and on Bhil rituals and festivals, and she received the Master Ojas Art Award at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2017.
The dot pattern that defines Bhil painting is said to draw on kernels of maize, the community’s staple crop, scattered loosely across the canvas in some pieces and packed into dense formations in others. Traditionally the dots were applied with chewed-end bamboo or neem twigs for fine work, and with feathers or bundles of grass for broader fills. Pigments came from what was on hand: turmeric or yellow ochre for yellow, red ochre or iron oxide for red, indigo or ground minerals for blue, charcoal or soot for black, chalk or rice paste for white, and crushed leaves for green, ground to a powder and bound with rice paste or tree gum.
Symbols and characters in Bhil Painting
Bhil worships Pithora Dev by painting the main wall of their living room by using mud and natural colors. These paintings are based on mythological characters such as Maha Dev, Baap Dev, Bagasa Dev, Bagh Dev, Kaumar Dev, Bheel Mata, Kali Mata, and many more.
Also, they love to paint the characters they see in their surroundings such as Bhil Farmer, Cow, and Calf, Monkey, Well, Camels, King, Snake, Sun, moon, etc.
Unlike Gond painting, which received its GI tag in April 2023, and Pithora painting, registered in September 2021, Bhil dot painting as its own form does not currently hold a Geographical Indication registration.
Famous Artists in Bhil Community
Bhuri Bai and Lajo Bai are internationally acclaimed artists of the Bhil Community. Bhuri Bai has being awarded Padam Shri in the year 2021.
Other artists of the Bhil community whose artwork is well known are Shanta Bhuriya, Sheer Singh, Ramesh Bariya, and Jambu Singhaad.
Ramesh Bariya, born in 1983 in Madhya Pradesh and Bhuri Bai’s son, paints wildlife scenes, elephants, tigers, deer, owls, often folding a contemporary detail such as a passing bus into an otherwise traditional composition.
On the Pithora side, Paresh Rathwa is the tradition’s most prominent named contemporary artist, awarded the Padma Shri in 2023 specifically for his work in Pithora painting.
For the bigger picture of how Bhil and Pithora painting fit alongside India’s other traditions, see our complete guide to Indian tribal art. Read more about the related Gond painting tradition here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Bhil art usually depict?
Nature and daily life: the sun and moon, animals, trees, farming scenes and deities, painted almost entirely in dots.
Is Bhil art the same as Pithora painting?
No. Pithora is a separate, ritual wall-painting tradition centred on the horse as a symbol of gods and ancestors, commissioned after a vow is fulfilled. Bhil dot painting is decorative and commercial, made for sale by individual artists.
Who is the most famous Bhil artist?
Bhuri Bai, who moved the tradition from mud walls to canvas in the early 1980s and received the Padma Shri in 2021.
Does Bhil painting have a GI tag?
Not currently. Unlike Gond painting (April 2023) and Pithora painting (September 2021), Bhil dot painting as its own form doesn’t hold a Geographical Indication registration as of this writing.
What do the horses in a Pithora painting mean?
They carry gods and ancestors. The number painted follows two recognised types: Ardho Pithoro (roughly five to nine horses) and Akho Pithoro (around eighteen, with celestial riders).
Who practises Pithora painting?
Primarily Gujarat’s Rathwa community, with Bhil, Bhilala and Nayaka communities in the same region also practising it.
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