Two Young Bedia Women – A Tribe Earning Its Bread by Dancing

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The painting, a contemporary work in oil on canvas, represents two Rajasthani tribal women in light mood, boldly modelled, vigorous and lively as if ready to walk out of the canvas right now. Seated either over a large window or on the terrace of their house they are making fun of a friend passing across in the street below; maybe, with their sensuous gestures they are drawing attention of a passer-by. As suggests lavishness and abundance of the ornaments on their persons, gestures of their hands and fingers, bearings of their faces and eyes, the style of costumes and their overall life style – all invitingly sensuous, the two damsels are in every likeliness Bedia women, a tribe earning its bread by dancing.

Unlike a nomadic tribe that moves from one place to other for livelihood now for many generations Bedias have their permanent settlements in different parts of India. Their settlements are as a rule away from a village population and consist of a few houses. Anthropological researches claim that the tribe hailed originally from Chhota Nagpur plateau and some other regions of Jharkhand but now their greater concentrations are in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and more so around where the boundaries of the two states join – Dhaulpur, Kota and Bhilwada in Rajasthan and Mandsaur and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh in particular. The two women’s Rajasthani links reflect also in their ornaments, particularly silver rings covering their arms up to shoulders and their typical costumes.   

Bedias are a tribe but unlike other tribes they have been at least till mid-twentieth century a professional people, their women folk – popularly known as Bedanis, skilled in dancing, and men, in accompanying them on instruments. But for these seven-eight decades the dance of a Bedia woman was considered to add colours to Holi like social celebrations and imparted distinction to a marriage in the family of a village chief or village rich and remained in talks for long time.

Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.

Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.

Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.

Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.