Idital or Edital is a form of Indian painting from the state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. It is a kind of Saura painting that was invented and is practiced by the

Sora people The Sora (alternative names and spellings include Saora, Saura, Savara and Sabara; IPA spelling: oːraor oʔoːra are a Munda ethnic group from eastern India. They live in southern Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The Soras mainl ...

who mostly live in

Rayagada Rayagada is a municipality in Rayagada district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the administrative headquarters of Rayagada district. History The city of Rayagada was founded by King Vishwanath Dev Gajapati (1527-1531 CE) of the Suryava ...

, Gajapati and

Koraput Koraput is a town and a Municipality in Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha. Koraput town is the district headquarter of Koraput district. History The district of Koraput derives its name from its headquarters in the present town o ...

districts of Odisha. The artisans paint Idital as a symbol of devotion to the tribal deity "Idital" or "Edital". Each piece of Idital painting contains symbols and signs and each one of them convey a distinct meaning. "''Jodisum''" and "''Jananglasum''" are two known Idital styles.

Origin and History

Seven out of the 62 tribes of Odisha decorate their wall with mural paintings. Sora are known for their wide range of painting styles based on religious and ceremonial themes. They have invariably religious association for which they are called ''italon'' or ''ikon''. ''Ikon''s used to be originally painted on the walls of the adobe huts of the Sora people. ''Ikon''s are worshipped during special religious and cultural occasions such as child-birth, harvest, marriage and the construction of a new house. Iditals are generally made to pay tribute to the deities and ancestors.

Theme, color and style

The iconic line drawings of Idital are based on simple geometrical forms. Humans,

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

elephants Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...

, the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and the

tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...

are some of the recurring motifs in the ''ikon''s. The backgrounds of the paintings are prepared from red or

yellow ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

earth which is then painted over using brushes created from tender

bamboo shoots Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible Shoot (botany), shoots (new bamboo culm (botany), culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including ''Bambusa vulgaris'' and ''Phyllostachys edulis''. They are used as vegetables ...

. Natural dyes and chromes derived from ground white stone, hued earth, and

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

and mixtures of

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

seed, flower and leaf extracts are used for ''Ikon''s."TRIBES ODISHA - SAORA IDTAL PAINTINGS"
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References

External links

* Arts of Odisha Culture of Odisha Indian painting {{art-technique-stub