Warli painting is a form of tribal art, done by the tribe called “Warli”. The tribe largely resides in ‘Dahanu’, in Thane district, Maharashtra. Other tribes that participate in warli paintings are Malharkoli, Kokani and Katkari.
Warli paintings started as the decoration of house walls on festive occasions, asking for blessings of God. It is done on brown surface, painted by red colour, called ‘Geru’. Traditionally, rice paste mixed in milk or water is used for these paintings. However, these days, artificial colours like poster colours are also used. Other colours used are yellow (turmeric powder) and red (‘sindoor’ or ‘kumkum’ powder).
Main occupation of warli people is agriculture. They have religious faith towards Tiger God, whose wooden statues can be seen in many parts of the district. These people live in rough and rocky foothills of Sahaydri range and keep much to themselves.
