Palghāṭa

Palghāṭa

Palghāṭa is the supreme goddess of the Warli tribe of the Sahyadri-Konkan region. Warli wall-painting art depicts her as a geometric tri-angle form; she is invoked at marriage, childbirth, and agricultural cycle.

Warli painting, now globally famous, is fundamentally religious art — the white-rice-paste drawings on mud walls narrate Palghāṭa's mythology, the cosmic tree, the tarpa-dance circle, and the marriage-union of earth and sky. Every Warli tribal marriage produces one Palghāṭa painting in the bride's home. UNESCO declared Warli art a protected intangible heritage tradition.