58 year old Parboti Murmu is a hugely talented traditional Sohrai Likhan artist from Purulia. Sohrai Likhan, a monochromatic style of wall murals created primarily for the Sohrai festival of the Santals is peculiar to only parts of northern Purulia today. It is in fact endangered, having been overtaken by the bright colourful designs in usually synthetic colours, that find favour among the younger generation of Santals. 

The effervescent Parboti has spent her life herding cattle and she continues to herd her six cows and a goat, morning and evening. Though traditional skills are passed down generations of women, Parboti had no particular teacher. Not all Santal women decorate their walls and so in her youth, she would closely study the walls of the neighbours on her way to the fields and then try and reproduce them on the ground with her stick. She mastered a variety of motifs in this way and when Sohrai came, she would reproduce them on her own wall. 

Parboti is one of a small group of traditional Sohrai painters, a dwindling entity,  who agreed to attempt to reproduce traditional wall art on paper, an initiative we began a few years ago. This proved to be very successful and has benefitted Parboti immensely. Now she laughingly complains that she is afraid her cows will go hungry on account of her painting. 

Till  this year, Parboti was the only woman who continued to paint in the traditional style of the region in her village. Seeing the interest that we took in her, a young bride of the village, who was familiar with the style from her childhood in her parental home, was inspired to follow her example and waited eagerly for us to arrive and take photographs. Another neighbour followed suit. It appears that a certain degree of interest has stirred in Parboti’s village and we are so excited about it.