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The Gond community is spread over the vast area of India's Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha. They did not dissolve themselves into the dominant cultural and religious sectarian currents throughout India but sought to maintain their own identity. That is why they were recorded as a scheduled community during the British period. The Gonds call themselves 'Koitur or Koi', they have their own spoken language and this language carries their ethnic identity. That is, like the Bengalis, they are also a language-based nation, but less in number, the estimated population in 2001 was eleven million. Their language is called Gondi; Very similar to the Telugu language. Why or how this people came to be named 'Gond' is not clearly explained, but in the ancient Dravidian language the hill was called 'Kond'. Mughal court records refer to them as the 'Gond' population, which they called a community living in the hills. Historical researchers believe that various hill groups came together under the influence of South Indian Dravidian language and culture to give rise to this Gondi language. They specifically mention their association with another group called 'Munda'. |
Image: Map of India |
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Image: Gond community (Source: Wordpress.com) |
During the Mughal period, the Gonds were the rulers of the Gondwana kingdom, which stretched from Madhya Pradesh in the east to the western border of Orissa. They remained independent, later becoming a tributary state through an alliance with the Mughals. Around 1200 AD, they established the first kingdom called 'Chanda', but the history of the predecessors of these Chanda kings is older, even in the 9th century, they have been found in various research. In general, the culture and lifestyle of the tribals is not royal. However, this Gond community once ruled a large kingdom called Gondwana, some specimens of which are still visible in Bhopal as a witness of that heyday. During the gradual decline, the Gond kings converted to Islam under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and gained ground. After 1740, they were forced to flee to the jungles of the hills after one attack after another by the Marathas. Those who were not yet forest dwellers became tax-paying residents of the Maratha occupation and gradually became a declining population. Their vacant land was quickly filled by Maratha settlers. During the British rule, they were considered uncivilized people of the thief-robber category. Under the Forest Conservation Act under colonial rule, Gonds and other forest dwellers like them were restricted in their residence and food collection. As a result, the Adivasi rebellion started in 1910. |
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Image: Hareli festival of Gond community (Source: People's Archive of Rural India) |
Image: Mandri dance of Gond community (Source: Rural Reporter) |
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The Gond leader Kosaram Bheem led the struggle against the Nizam of the British-allied state of Hyderabad. The famous slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Zamin' stood at one point in the revolt over the rights of the anti-British independence movement as a public revolt. The Gond educated class formed the 'Gond Mahasabha' in the early part of the 20th century to prevent the influence or assimilation of outsiders into their culture, in the wake of which the Gond political party emerged and demanded an independent state, although their demands were not met by the British or later the Indian government. Without care, it has dried up over time. The Gonds have their own rules and regulations in society, their own belief system, and rituals. But like their patterned tribal groups, traces of their once-kingdom history in central India are hard to find in the present-day rituals of their society. |
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Image: Old Gond house (Source: 'Gond Chitrakatha' by Swapnesh Samaiya) |
Gond society lives divided into small units or sagas, these sagas intermarry, and there is no marriage within their sagas. Gond tribes were scattered in different areas instead of many tribes congregating in small areas. They believe that their forefathers once lived together in one tribe, and with the evolution of time they have separated and divided into different groups, this tribe identity is very important to them. They remember the names and symbols of their ancestral villages and tribal chiefs and these names, symbols, and numbers are chanted in these 'sagas' or tribal rituals. There is no written language so this cultural system is to retain their history. 'Saga' is not a social structure, rather it is necessary to preserve the norms prevailing among them. As they can marry with which tribe or not, it can be understood from this saga identity. |
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Image: Making of Gond painting |
According to the Gond belief system, everything in nature is alive, everything has a soul. These trees, rivers, animals and birds, hills and mountains, sky, clouds, moon and sun all have their own existence, the condition of coexistence with them is to unite them all, they want to maintain this process of honoring through music and painting. Although 'nature worship' has been prevalent among all human groups since the beginning of time, various institutional religions have been introduced after they disappeared at various stages of social evolution. But its existence is still present all over India. Arya dharma was established as a large religion adopting many of the beliefs and meditative ideas prevalent among the local population to spread influence among the local population. These minor creeds withered away under the pressure of larger religious beliefs, but the Gonds managed to retain as much of their traditional thinking as possible. |
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Image: Painter Vajju Shyam (The Miracle of Flight) |
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A popular belief among the Gonds is that 'a good image can bring good luck.' That's why they used to fill the walls and floor of their house with various types of images. Painting requires a surface, even if it's not flat, it doesn't matter. Primitive people used to draw pictures on the rocky surfaces of the caves they lived in. Even though today's artists did not have the opportunity to use canvas, paper, cloth, leather, wood, or board, there was no shortage of aspirations to express their feelings. The paintings on the rocky walls of the mountains have survived for thousands of years. As the long period that has passed between cave dwellers to forest dwellers and plains dwellers, the picture has also changed for real reasons. Painting tools and content have changed. The custom of celebrating pala-parbans or family festivals by painting pictures on house walls, fences, floors, and courtyards is still practiced. The fence house is very temporary, it has to be changed every year, it is a kind of temporary system. The color made by mixing rice powder and tree sap does not last on the fence. |
Image: Painter Vajju Shyam |
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Image: 'Bana' musical instrument player (Source: 'Gond Chitrakatha' by Swapnesh Samaiya)
Among the Gond tribes 'Pardhan Gond' continue to practice this painting. This picture is composed on the occasion of various festivals in the tribe, that festival may be Marriage, Nabana, Birth festival, and even on some special days of the year they dance and sing a lot. The Gonds have a special musical instrument which they call 'Bana'. It is like the Sarinda of Bangladesh, it is present in all their events. |
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An artwork depicting a snake (Painter Rajendra Shyam) |
Gonds have their own religion, they are nature worshipers i.e. they believe that everything in nature has life, man is also an animal in this living environment, and that's why friendly coexistence with everyone is their religious teaching. This urge for coexistence is most evident in their paintings. Sun-moon, hills-mountains, and sea rivers are in their pictures as well as various animals-birds, and tree-plants, they did not have thousands of colors or drawing tools like modern artists to depict these subjects. But they were not at all backward in identifying the signs of content. First arranging the shape of the subject with small dots on the canvas and then connecting the dots with thick or thin lines to draw the figure reduces the possibility of distortion during coloring. But being a line-based picture, a kind of dynamism easily comes into the painting. Image: Deer (Painter Rajendra Shyam) |
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The Gond painter first marks the subject of the picture with tiny aligned drops or dots and then joins the dots to draw an animal bird or tree. Those shapes are filled with color. But the matter is not so simple. Because painting in this rule is time-consuming. In Gond society, the choice of subject matter, the use of colors, and the use of colors from natural materials may seem superfluous in today's view. |
Image: Making of Gond painting |
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The outline or outline of the figure is not covered during filling. Again, various patterns are made on the body of the figure with small lines. For example, fish scales, bird feathers, and leaf veins are drawn quite finely. Gond paintings were painted on mud walls, in India mud walls are usually coated with cow dung to make them smooth. Gond artists began their paintings with dots and lines on the walls, in many parts of India a suitable colored background was made on the walls before painting on the mud walls. One of the characteristics of Gond images is that the background of the image is blank i.e. not filled with any color. Gond painters sometimes inject a bit of humor into the picture, such as a duck figure with perhaps two more ducks' necks or heads, or a number of fish heads pointing to the roots of a tree. Such connection of one figure to another figure is the artist's own imagination, there are no restrictive rules. Two color details on two parts of the same bird are not unfair at all. Since there is no religious discipline, there is no rule regarding the importance of the subject, and the artist's decision is the last word in the format of the picture. |
Image: Tree of life (Narmada Prashad Tecum) |
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Gond paintings, like other line-based folk paintings of India, are two-dimensional or drawn in a plane, with no attempt to create a sense of three-dimensionality. Lines are made thicker or thinner depending on importance, not back and forth. Color for filling, dark and light, does not mean near or far.
Nowadays, instead of clay walls, Gond paintings are painted on the walls of brick buildings, canvas, paper, and leather, as a result of which the tools of painting have changed. |
Image: Gond painting (Mangru Uikey) |
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This dot and line art is very similar to Australian Aboriginal art. A group of anthropologists believe that there is a genetic relationship. However, despite the apparent similarities in the images, there are differences in the world of thought. Aboriginal people in Australia like to describe their landscapes, mythologies or dreams. A figure has many little stories, not only in design but also in symbolic meaning. The Gond picture of this symbolic meaning is somewhat philosophical. |
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Image: Painter Jangar Sing Shyam |
The 'Atomic theory' prevalent in ancient India (everything in the world is just a collection of tiny atoms) is expressed through Bindu. In this atomistic universe, all things are interrelated, and the subtlety of Gond Chitra's design explores that ultimate truth. The colors extracted from nature are not as bright, but the Gonds have freedom in the use of colors in painting. As a result with the change of time, modern colors have taken place. Lines are drawn and printed in pen or computer. But not all are using this business acumen, well-known artists are protecting the fundamentals of Gond painting and succeeding in promoting it. |
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Image: Painter Jangar Sing Shyam |
Image: Painter Vajju Shyam |
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Image: Detail of a mural at Bharat Bhawan |
Gond Painting is not only a picture but also a kind of story. Since these Gonds have no written language, they want to convey the essence of their culture and tradition to the next generation through images. Notably, their pictures show nature and living in harmony with it, but the daily life of their society the history of the various conflicts with the Gonds and other forces, or how they once became forest dwellers is not found in these pictures. That is the law of nature. There will be destruction, decay, and death, but the burnt field will grow again. It is the message of this celebration of life that they want to leave to the next generation, this feeling is their path. |
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Image: Indira Gandhi National Tribal University |
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Image: Painting on the entrance wall of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (1) |
Drawing tools For painting the walls and floors of the mud houses, the brush used was made by bamboo, and the colors were obtained from natural materials. 1. charcoal 2. white soil 3. tree sap 4. green leaves 5. Cow dung 6. Yellow color from Multani soil 7. Local sand 8. Ocher/ red clay to brown color 9. Red color from jaba flower |
Image: Painting on the entrance wall of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (2) |
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Image: Pen outline of a Gond painting |
Image: Tools currently used in Gond painting |
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Image: A mural by Jangarh at the Magiciens de la Terre exhibition |
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Image: Jangar Singh Shyam (Source: Tribal Art India) |
Some of the famous Gond artists today are: 1. Jangar Singh Shyam, born 1962, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. 2. Subas Vayam, Madhya Pradesh, State Handicraft Award-2002. 3. Durgabai Baiyam, Children's Book Award-2008. 4. Bhajju Shyam, Patnagarh, Madhya Pradesh, India, Padma Shri Award 2018. 5. Narmada Prasad Tekam, born 1983, Patnagarh, Madhya Pradesh, India. |
