Hazaribagh Sohrai Khovar Wall Painting Art

Sohrai and Khovar are two interlinked mural painting traditions of Hazaribagh district practised by Kurmi, Munda, and Oraon women who paint the walls of their homes annually — Khovar at weddings and Sohrai at harvest time. The paintings use natural pigments: red and yellow ochre, white kaolinite clay, and black manganese, applied with fingers, combs, and bamboo splinter tools to create dense geometric patterns and stylised animal figures representing the forest ecology. Hazaribagh's Sohrai painters, particularly from Bhelwara and Jorakath villages, have gained national recognition through the work of researcher Bulu Imam who documented and revived the tradition; their work is now sold on canvas and paper through craft galleries and international exhibitions.