37 year old Belmoni Murmu is a traditional Sohrai wall artist, one of a dwindling group of Sohrai Likhan artists who continue to uphold this beautiful tradition of the Santals in parts of Purulia.
With her village celebrating the harvest festival of Sohrai earlier this month, the walls of her home were replete with the most beautiful traditional floral monochromatic compositions. She learnt the art from her mother, who in turn had learnt it from her paternal grandmother.
Her daughter though, refuses to follow in her mother`s footsteps, preferring to create colourful patterns with brush and paint - that is so much in vogue among the younger Santals today.
Santal women would often sing softly, to themselves almost, as they painted their walls. Their song would be their way of ushering in Sohrai, as they swept a clay soaked rag in a concentric semi-circular motion across their walls. This practice of singing as they painted has faded unfortunately.
After some persuasion, Belmoni sang a traditional Sohrai song, that has been orally transmitted over centuries; she was later joined by her neighbour, Kajoli Hansda. The lyrics of this song also convey to us that the tradition of Sohrai Likhan has been around for a long time.
"A young woman`s younger brother is throwing a tantrum about the fact that their home is not as grand as that of their rich neighbours, Ram and Lakshman. The woman asks her brother to stop crying and tells him that soon their home will look as magnificent after she completes decorating the walls. She then proceeds to paint such extraordinarily beautiful motifs on the mud walls of their home that the little boy is consoled."