Traditional Santal Sohrai Wall Art of Purulia

Sometime in 2015, we, at Daricha Foundation, decided to visit Santal villages in the northern regions of Purulia, West Bengal, in search of a continuity of the wall art tradition of ethnic communities of neighbouring Jharkhand, higher up on the same plateau. Santal dwellings are easily identified by their neat, precise lines.

However, Sohrai is the name originally used only by the Santal community across eastern India for their harvest festival. The name extended to the wall murals they paint for the festival. It is possible, of course, that some cross-cultural borrowing from the dominant group (Santals in Jharkhand) took place over time.

Sohrai is a harvest festival, the most important festival of the Santals. It is celebrated as a thanksgiving for their cattle that have helped cultivate their land all year. It is in preparation for this festival that Santal women decorate the mud walls of their homes.

Traditionally spread over five days, there are no fixed dates for Sohrai and the celebration usually takes place either in October, soon after Kali Puja or within the first two weeks of January. The festival dates are staggered across villages to allow kinsmen to enjoy each other’s celebrations and partake of the feasting. 

Anointing their cattle with oil and sindoor and worshipping them is an important ritual for the first three days of the festival. 

It is believed that Sohrai got its name from the month in which it originally used to be celebrated - Sohrai, which is the Santali equivalent of Kartik (October-November). Others say that the word is derived from Sarhao which means thanksgiving. There are charming myths associated with the name as well.

Members of the family (kutumb) are invited over, especially married daughters and paternal aunts. A special feast is held for them on the second day. On this evening, the women paint ritual diagrams known as Holong Gaar (rice powder markings) on the floor.

These special motifs, created with a paste of powdered rice, run from the entrance to the cowshed. The Santals believe that this ladder is used by heavenly cows and bongas to descend to earth and receive offerings from humans.

Along with the rituals, singing and dancing play a very important part. There are numerous genres of songs sung, each with a specific tune. The dances too follow specific beats on the drums, all associated with the festival.

Santal Sohrai styles vary from region to region. The exquisite, monochromatic traditional wall murals, or Sohrai Likhan, that we witnessed are unique to Santal villages only in certain parts of northern Purulia today. The tradition had also prevailed in parts of northern Bankura earlier.