Saora tribe is one of the oldest Indian tribes who live together. Their cultural and traditional background distinguishes one tribe to other. They are religious minded. They widely practicing religion like animism, animalism, natural worship, shamanism and anthropomorphism. Worship of ancestors is in vague among the tribe. These tribes carry on religious practices in order to ensure personal security and happiness. Wellbeing of the whole community and solidarity of group are duly respected. They follow huge number of festivals including birth ceremony, harvesting and sowing, marriage etc. with their tribal dance and songs. Local deities are worshipped. They are superstitious and take ojha of their community seriously to get rid of evil spirits.
The Saura pictographs function as a means of worship and a medium of invocation, inviting gods and spirits to inhabit the spaces in the painting as a temporary dwelling in the living. Saora adiwasi paintings are made on the inner walls of their mud huts which are called ittlans or ikon with figures of human beings, sun, moon, elephant and horse. These paintings are done mainly out of superstitions and marks of honour. Saora paintings have a symbolic meaning to them. They are of religious importance too. With aims like preservation of the good harvest, desire for a good one, aversion of diseases, honouring the dead and valiant, the adiwasis create interesting paintings. The adiwasi’s occupation being mainly agriculture, they tend to depict lots of natural vistas in their paintings – farming, fields and landscape form important categories of painting. However, items of the modern world, like the plane, chairs, desks, etc have also started featuring in their works. The entire process includes a prolonged procedure of invocation of the spirits in order to make their hopes and wishes work.
