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This article is based on extensive fieldwork conducted during 1982–1983 among the Rathwa tribe of the Panchmahal and Vadodara districts of Gujarat, particularly in the villages in and around the Chhota Udaipur tālukā (administrative subdivision), in Vadodara district, and centers on the elaborate wall paintings of the Rathwa community, which are dedicated to their deity Pithoro and broadly pertain to their myth of creation, preserved both in their oral tradition and in the form of ritual wall paintings.The Rathwas, who speak a Rathwi-Bhili dialect of Gujarati, were large…

The Mina are the largest group of indigenous people in Rajasthan, with a population of 4,345,528 according to the 2011 census. They live mainly in the southern and eastern part of the state, southeast of the Aravalli range, where the largest Mina populations are found in the districts of Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, and Udaipur. They are also numerous in the Alwar, Chittorgarh, and Kota districts. There is also a certain number of Mina in adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh, but there they do not figur…

Rathwa I. Rathwa Religion – II. Pithora Paintings – III. Pithora Art and Religious ReformThe Rathwa (Rāṭhavā; or Rathawa, Rathva, Rathava) are an Ādivāsī community primarily resident in east central Gujarat. According to the 2011 census, they constitute the third largest Scheduled Tribe in the state, numbering just over 642,300 people. In 2011, Rathwas resided in every district in the state except Kachchh in the far west, but the vast majority (79.6%) lived in Vadodara  (in 2013 divided into Chhota Udaipur an…