Sohrai Khovar painting, Telia Rumal gets GI Tag

Jharkhand’s Sohrai Khovar painting and Telangana’s Telia Rumal were given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry headquartered in Chennai.

Jharkhand’s Sohrai Khovar painting is a traditional and ritualistic mural art. It is practised by local tribal women during local harvest and marriage seasons. The art is drawn using the local, naturally available soils of different colours in the area of the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

The art is traditionally painted on the walls of mud houses. It is now seen on other surfaces, too.

The style features a profusion of lines, dots, animal figures, and plants, often representing religious iconography.

Telia Rumals are offered at the Ajmer Sharif dargah in Rajasthan. The cloth is worn as a veil by princesses at the erstwhile court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and as a turban cloth by Arabs in the Middle East.

Telangana’s Telia Rumal cloth involves intricate handmade work with cotton loom displaying a variety of designs and motifs in three particular colours namely red, black and white.

The cloth can only be created using the traditional handloom process and not by any other mechanical means. If not, it will lose the very quality of the Rumal.