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Pithora Rathwa Ritual Wall

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Pithora is a ritual vow wall-painting made by the Rathwa, Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Chhota Udaipur, Gujarat, and neighboring Madhya Pradesh, named for the god Pithora Baba. A household commissions the painting to fulfill a vow — for health, a good harvest, or protection — and male painters called lakhara, directed by a badva priest, fill the wall from edge to edge with flat reds, greens, oranges, blues and pinks. The dominant motif is rows of naive, geometric horses carrying gods, goddesses and ancestors — traditionally seven horses for seven hills — packed alongside suns, trees and human figures until no ground shows through. The wall itself is prepared with dung, clay and lime, and here is read as its deep-earth, unlimed mud-plaster state: a rustic dark-brown ground that makes the pigments burn brighter.

Learn more about the Pithora Rathwa Ritual Wall style

  • OriginChhota Udaipur, Gujarat, and adjoining Madhya Pradesh, India
  • Periodliving votive tradition; documented practice ~1960s–present
  • DesignerRathwa lakhara painters · Bhil and Bhilala lakhara painters · the badva priest
  • MovementsPithora votive wall painting · tribal ritual maps of devotion

Web examples

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Slide examples

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