Arts

Tatooing

Tattooing is widely practiced among the Adivasis of Madhya Pradesh.

Tattooing after marriage is not regarded as auspicious. Both for the tribals and non-tribals of the peasant class the desire to attain status in their respective communities is an anthropomorphic concern. Tattooing serves as an expression to derive satisfaction through the symbolic confirmation of their group codes. Every member tries to be with the group. Tattooing gives him a feeling of security. There is a belief among the Bhils that the figures drawn on the body are the evidence of good deeds which go with a person to his post-mortem existence. With them he is in a position to explain his past. The Bhils are more fond of their own traditional marks. From the tattoo marks, one could distinguish whether the symbols represented belong to any tribal group or any other community.

Women are used to thick tattooing on visible parts of their bodies. In the Bundelkhand region amongst the rural people there is a saying that whereas all other ornaments of a woman are taken off when she dies, tattoo marks are her only fortune she carries to the next world. Chhattisgarhi women are more fond of tattooing. They fix up the marks by injecting vegetable dye into the skin through continuous pricking of a needle point.

Tattooing is mostly done by mutual help. Godharin or the wife of a village sorcerer is usually invited to do this job. The Dewar community of Chhattisgarh has adopted this profession as a side job. The Badnin, i.e. a woman of the Badna caste among the Gonds does this kind of work for token payment. She also prepares the mixture used as ink.

The practice of tattooing with the paste, prepared by lamp-black mixed with linseed oil is slowly vanishing as the professional tattooers are always available who do it by mechanical means. Tattoo marks have a great significance for the tribes of Bastar and the Bhils of Malwa and Nimad. Their tattoo figures express the kind of behaviouristic mode of their clan-complexions. The figures also represent the fineness and the symbolic beauty of the things associated with their daily life.

Painting the body on ceremonial occasions continues to be a ritual for the tribals. A male dancer always takes care to decorate his body with white and red stripes to give the impression of a tiger. The Muria dancer prefers to paints the rows of dots to look like a panther.

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