Saura Art: More Than Just Tribal Doodles

Vithika Hota 2024PGP457
1 Followers Oak Lores

I’m a curious MBA student at IIM Indore and I love telling stories. With roots in Odisha and a deep love for Indian art, literature, and folklore, I enjoy exploring the nuances of identity, tradition, and what it means to remember. I believe every corner has a story—and I’m here to find and tell it.

0 0 46
Source: Antima Khanna, Handmade Stores

In the universe of Indian indigenous art, the Saura murals of Odisha are often misread as mere aesthetic versions of Warli—both lean, linear, and seemingly simple. Their art form is also called Ikon or Idital, derived from the name of their deity Idital, to whom their paintings are dedicated. But beneath the surface of Saura’s art lies a ritual script, not a decorative sketch. For the Saura tribe of Odisha, art isn’t for the walls; it is of the walls, and by extension, of the world. It’s the point where memory, prayer, ancestry, and cosmology meet. 

The Sauras of Odisha: The people of Mountains, Forests and Myth

Saura Art: A Glimpse into Tribal Creativity
Source: Antima Khanna, Handmade Stores

The Sauras—also spelled as Savaras or Saoras—are one of the oldest known Adivasi communities in India. They have deep roots in Southern Odisha, particularly in the districts of Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput, and Ganjam. Legend says that the term Saura comes from two words— ‘So’ means hidden and ára’ means tree. The Odia people strongly believe that Sabari, the old lady who gave berries to Rama in the Ramayana was a Saura woman. It is also believed that Viswavasu, the man who used to worship Lord Nilamadhava on the hills of Nilanchal, was the chief of a Saura tribe. They have always been forest dwellers, shifting cultivators, and animists with a spiritual worldview deeply tied to their land. 

Here, life and ritual are inseparable. From sowing seeds to celebrating childbirth, everything has a god, and every god has a story- told through paintings made on mud-plastered walls using bamboo brushes and natural dyes like rice paste, charcoal and tree sap. The paintings aren’t named after painters, they are named after deities. The process involves preparing a backdrop with red and yellow ochre earth, upon which intricate designs are etched using brushes made from tender bamboo shoots. Natural dyes sourced from ground white stone, hued earth, vermillion, and extracts from tamarind seeds are used to bring these paintings to life. 

Why the red background you ask? Well, red soil is the dominant soil type in Odisha, rich in iron oxide and covering 7.14 million hectares in Koraput, Rayagada and Mayurbhanj. 

Motif 1: The Jeevara Rukha, or the Tree of Life

Source: Saura Tribal Art – Tree of Life Painting on Amazon.com

The Jeevara Rukha or the Tree of Life isn’t just another motif. It’s the nervous system of Saura cosmology. 

Imagine a tree whose roots twist into spirals, trunk is made of stacked triangles, and branches bloom not just with leaves- but with human life, cows, snakes, ancestors, birds, and spirits. The tree is alive!

It’s roots represent the underworld, ancestors, and karmic memory. 

The trunk symbolises life’s journey- tiered stages like childhood, adulthood, old age. 

Branches hold the present- family, crops, rains, animals and spirits- all coexisting in harmony.

Unlike the rigid axial trees of Gond art or stylized banyans of Madhubani, the Saura tree moves. It’s lines bend, tremble, almost breathe. Figures are often painted in processions, circling around it in dance or ritual. The snake winding up around the tree trunk? It’s not to be feared, for it is a symbol of fertility. 

Motif 2: Basumata Surya, or the Dancing Sun

D'source Making Process | Saura Painting - Raghurajpur, Orissa | D'Source Digital Online Learning Environment for Design: Courses, Resources, Case Studies, Galleries, Videos
Source: D’Source Digital

Odisha is a land of sun worship — think Surya Narayan at Konark or the winter morning chants in Sambalpuri villages. So it is no wonder the Sauras also worship Surya, the sun god — albeit in their own peculiar, kinetic way.

The Basumata Surya (Mother Earth’s Sun) is never depicted as a static ball, but at the very heart of movement. The sun is a magnetic spiral, sometimes with rings or triangles of dots around it. About it dance stick-figure humans who harvest, worship, or celebrate in concentric orbits.

Some variants include two suns and two moons, serving as a reminder that time isn’t linear — it’s cyclical, seasonal, sacred.

To the Saura, each sunrise is an opportunity to pay homage to ancestors, bless the fields or tell stories anew. Their sun doesn’t just rise, it dances- like the people who worship it. 

Not Just Folk Art: It’s a Living Archive

Indian Art Store
Source: indianshelf.in

Each painting- whether on a hut in Gumma village or on canvas in a Bhubaneswar gallery- is a visual text, an oral story preserved in pigment. Here’s what makes Saura style unique:

Faceless Forms: Unlike Pattachitra’s expressive deities, Saura figures are minimalist- triangle torsos, stick limbs. But they’re powerful, standing for universal themes like birth, death, harvest, love.

Unbroken Lines: The figures are drawn in one fluid motion. This isn’t about symmetry- it’s about continuity. Life flows; so does the line.

Geometric Harmony: From circles of ritual dancers to grids of grain storage, the Saura canvas is always in balance- a nod to the tribal value of coexistence with nature. 

From Wall to World: The Contemporary Canvas

Source: ST & SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department, Odisha

Today, Saura art is having a second life. Thanks to Odisha’s cultural revival and tribal development initiatives, artists are:

Translating murals into portable scrolls and canvases, collaborating with fashion houses on block prints and fabrics, and being featured in national tribal art exhibitions from Delhi to Tokyo. Infact, Odisha also got the GI tag for Lanjia Saura art in January 2024!

Artists like Jaga Sabar and Dasarathi Sabar are reinventing the tradition- adding elements like trains, mobile phones, even political protest, while keeping the ritual core intact.

But challenges remain.

Mass-market imitation- machine-printed “Saura-style” home decor dilutes authenticity.

Loss of ritual knowledge- as youth migrate, the spiritual significance fades.

Commercial pressures- artists are pushed to make “pretty” art over powerful stories.

Luckily, grassroots organisations and institutions like the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi, Tribes India, and platforms like Artisans’ Alliance of India are creating spaces where authenticity and income can coexist.

Odisha: The Soul of Saura

Photo Courtesy: Odisha Tourism
Source: Odisha Tourism

Let’s not forget: Saura art is inseparable from Odisha’s landscape.

It’s born from the Eastern Ghats, where wild mango trees shade red soil.

It echoes the rhythms of the Soura language- a blend of tribal dialect and Odia influence.

It reflects Odisha’s ethos of harmony- between the sacred and the ordinary, gods and goats, rice fields and rituals.

If Pattachitra is Odisha’s classical painting, Saura is its primal poetry- rougher, rawer, but no less profound. It doesn’t shout. It whispers. And it lasts.

To call Saura art “tribal doodles” is like calling the Konark Wheel a decorated stone.

These are not naive drawings. They’re philosophies in ink, cosmologies made from clay, memory, and myth. In a world craving authenticity, Saura art stands quietly- faceless but full of soul.

So next time you pass a “tribal art” section, stop. Look closely. If the lines move, the figures dance, and you feel the forest rustle- it might just be a piece of Odisha, trying to speak.

Are you listening?

References

Categories: Blog
Tags: , , , ,
Replies:
0 0 46
Featured Articles