Here's what the Prime Minister gifted the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Cook Islands, Tonga, Canada, Tuvalu, Niue and Comoros.
The handpicked gifts reflect PM Modi's special focus to the promotion of Indian tribal art and culture across the globe.
One of the earliest expressions of this ancient art form is the dancing girl artefact found in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan excavations. Dokra is a non–ferrous metal casting that uses the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years.
The word 'Gond' comes from the expression 'Kond' meaning 'green mountain'. Created by dots and lines, these painting have been a part of pictorial art on walls and floors of Gonds and it is done with the construction and re-construction of each and every house, with locally available natural colours and materials like charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder etc.
PM Modi presented the same art form to Tuvalu leadership as well.
The Prime Minister had in 2022 gifted Madhya Pradesh-origin Gond art to Australia's Anthony Albanese during their meeting on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders' Summit in Tokyo. Gond art is considered very similar to Aboriginal art of Australia. The Aborigines have their own stories like the Gonds do about creation.
A ritualistic tribal folk art, Pithora as a mural has a special significance in the annals of the cultural anthropology. It brings a sense of exuberant energy in colour dating back to mankind’s earliest expressions in creativity.
The paintings were originally depicted as murals on kitchen hearths in Warli homes. Today these paintings are celebrated and are gracing elite homes, exhibition spaces and have established the warli as modern painters.
