Sai Charan Palakurthi
Research Associate
Understanding Bedsheets, Towels & my Mom's sarees through the lenses of Heritage
It was 6:30 pm, a Tuesday, and I was in the 2nd chapter of Upender Singh’s ‘History of Ancient and Medieval India’. While turning pages at a pace lesser than I would appreciate, something so simplistic, yet vibrant and expressive popped up on the glossy pages. Stick-like figures in action- a bit like baroque but in 2D-people dancing, celebrating, hunting, being hunted and whatnot- everything coloured in radiant hematite pigment.
This was not the first time I saw such pictures, but on paper- in a history book? Yes, that was not what I expected.
Growing up, I have seen these figurines on bedsheets, pottery, and my mom’s sarees. As an adult, I have seen them on the walls of Hyderabad’s Gachobowli area. Soon, I discovered that this style is called Warli Art, a tribal art native to India, and vividly seen in the Sahayadri region of Maharastra. More recently, during my time at Pleach India Foundation, I realised that this style of art shares similarities with the cave paintings of the Bhimbetka (in Madhya Pradesh) which belong to the Upper-Palaeolithic age (<40,000 years old).
I have always admired this work for its expressive qualities. But now, as I continue to work at the Pleach, I can look at it through the lens of heritage—especially the sustenance and relevance of this art form for thousands of years.
This was one of the many instances at Pleach where I developed the conscience of entwining the present with the past and being able to interpret the ‘progression of art while sustaining its essence’. My time at Pleach India helped me develop an instinct to find Indigenous attributes in the contemporary lifestyle.
In the world of the internet, where the relevance of any technological breakthrough or a trend is only a couple of months, ‘the timeless nature of our deep culture and heritage and its strength of transcending effortlessly through millennia gives me a glimmering hope of permanence in something so rooted ’.