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Each
village has its own shrine in a hut or under a tree with
beautiful icons made from clay, wood, stone, or metal,
crafted by artists within the group itself. At times,
certain objects were collected from specialised groups
outside their own. The kumhars or potters of village
Molela, for example, made clay icons with excellent
abstractions, supplying them to the tribes. Similarly, the
stone-carvers of Rishabdeo made thousands of
sculptured figures in the memory of their ancestors, the
male forms being known as Soora, the female Matlok.
These carved-stones are not standardized but attempt to deal
with the cause of each person's death which may vary from
murder, snake bite or death caused by a wild animal to
various illnesses, childbirth, or accidents. It was expected
that the stone carver would design the stone in such a way
as to give expression to the cause of death. This resulted
in his having to create friezes to convey the story leading
up to the death, and as a result common motifs came to be
used to imply certain common events. |
