Artventures of Baiga - Essential

Artventures of Baiga: Essentials is the second level of the Baiga series, written for people who want to understand the art form before drawing it. The opening section covers where Baiga painting comes from and how it works. The word Baiga means sorcerer or medicine man. The community is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group and lives across Mandla, Dindori, Shahdol, Umaria, Balaghat and Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh. The palette runs to five colours: red, blue, brown, yellow and black, traditionally made from turmeric, indigo, vermilion, white clay and rice paste, and applied with brushes cut from bamboo sticks.

Three deities get their own pages. Bada Dev, guardian of the forest, worshipped before planting and again before harvest. Baghsur, the tiger spirit, prayed to for safety by people who work inside forests where tigers live. Kali Mata, who the Baiga treat as a protective mother rather than only a destroyer.

A full section covers Godna, the Baiga tattoo tradition. Seeta Rasoi on the forehead marks adolescence. Kajeri and Palani, made of dots, are applied after marriage. The ink is made from black sesame, Bija wood or the fluid of the Malwan tree, the work is done by women called Godharins using thorns and needles, and turmeric and herbal oil go on afterwards to heal the skin. Men are kept away from the process, which the Baiga believe would otherwise affect their hunting.

Then the practice begins. Six reference paintings are reproduced full-page for study, including Mahua Devi and the Tree by Jodhaiya Bai Baiga and Bholenath Ka Darbaar by Sakun Bai Baiga. Six pattern exercises follow, each with a fact about Baiga life on the same page. Motif sections cover animals, reptiles, trees and human figures across seven pages.

The creative exploration section is the longest. Repaint two lizards in your own colours. Recreate a full tree-and-animal scene on the opposite page. Add pattern to a bull's horns, a Baiga lamp and a Sheshnaag. Build a family around a lone peacock. Draw the villagers around a Mahua tree. Bring a barren Palash tree into spring. Put devotees around Bada Dev. Fill an entire background behind a peacock, because Baiga painters leave no negative space.