CONTRARY TO WIDESPREAD BELIEF the forest tribes of Bastar are not usually artisans themselves. Traditionally they were among the keenest patrons of their region's arts and crafts, which reflect their culture, religion and lifestyles but are created by the skilled hands of (mainly Hindu) families belonging to different artisan castes.

One exception is Belgur Mandavi (left), a Muria of Garhbengal near Narayanpur in North Bastar, whose paintings vividly recall the prehistoric rock art of Central India.

Today, while there is growing admiration for all the arts and crafts that reflect Bastar life, the family artisan tradition is declining.

To the rescue, among others, has come a small group of dedicated ceramics professionals in the Gandhian tradition who have set up Saathi ("Togetherness"), a co-operative NGO at Kumharpara ("Potters' Enclave") (above) near Kondagaon in North Bastar. Their aim is to help sustain and develop traditional arts and crafts in modern market conditions.

Click here to see more of Saathi's work in detail.

The complex interweaving of tribal and Hindu themes in Bastar Folk Art is well illustrated and investigated in a magnificent privately printed publication (right) from Franco-Indian's Project for Indian Cultural Studies (No. VIII, 1999).

Below: A painted math (memorial) at Bare Kilepal village among the Dandami or Bison-Horn Maria of South Bastar. To order a rare copy of Bastar Folk Art, click GreenGondwana Enquiries here.

Most Gond villages in Bastar have memorials to the departed - many of carved stone or simple wood, some as invisible but as potently present as the ancestors themselves.

In South Bastar these memorials take on a quite different aspect - bright, narrative signposts that seem almost an ancient and graphically advanced version of modern billboards. It is these areas that have seen the most traffic of mainstream Indian art influences over the centuries.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians may argue for ever over the seminal influences on Bastar Arts and Crafts. What is not in dispute is that a living tradition is in danger of disappearing, replaced by false substitutes of inferior quality along the increasingly open highways and markets of the interior. The charm and vigour of authentic tribal lifestyles is being sacrificed to the impatient gods of mercantilism.