Koli and Bhil Wall Paintings of Mahisagar

The Koli and Bhil tribal communities of Mahisagar district decorate their houses with ceremonial wall paintings for festivals, weddings, and religious occasions. These paintings use mud plaster as a ground, with designs applied in white rice paste, red ochre, and charcoal. Motifs include geometric forms (zigzag, triangles, diamonds), animals (horses, birds, fish), and human figures in stylised poses. The Bhil pithora tradition is present in Mahisagar's forested eastern zone, with large ritual murals painted inside homes as offerings to the deity Babo Pithoro. Women apply the simpler decorative paintings on exterior walls and in courtyards during Diwali and Holi. These art forms are communal activities: groups of women paint together, singing work songs. The Lakhara community of ritual specialists who paint elaborate pithora compositions are employed on a hereditary basis by Bhil patron families across Mahisagar.