A Padma Shri in Vadodara, a Prayer Meet in Valsad and a Call From Gandhinagar: How Warli Adivasis’ representation of a tribal deity appeared on Gujarat’s Budget Document

The Warli tribe is mainly found in Valsad district of South Gujarat and adjoining Thane district of Maharashtra. They are known for their painting tradition. On occasions like harvest festivals, birth, engagement and marriage ceremonies, Warlis, especially Warli women, make paintings on the mud-plastered walls of their houses. The paintings are also made on bamboo chips with cow dung.

When asked how she was introduced to Warli Art, Patel said, “I first came in contact with this art form in 1996, when I was a second year student majoring in Bachelor of Visual Arts in Sculpture at MS University, Baroda.” At that time Jivya Soma Mashe, a tribal Warli Artist from Maharashtra who would go on to win Padma Shri, was visiting MSU.

“He was giving students a demonstration and by chance, I happened to sit in at this workshop out of curiosity. I had actually gone to call two of my friends to join me for lunch but they were too engrossed in Mashe’s workshop, so I too decided to sit with them.”

Little did she know that the workshop would go on to shape her life.

Patel said she was so enamoured with the art form that later that night, she decided to draw the image of Kansari Devi which Mashe had demonstrated. The next day, when she showed her work to Mashe, he asked her where she learnt to draw it from, being surprised to learn that she had done it solely based on his workshop. He then made her promise to not stop doing Warli Art “haath mathi pichhi padi na jay tyaan sudhi(until the brush doesn’t drop from your hand)”. Initially reluctant, she was convinced by Mashe to help save the dying art, said Patel.

Gujarat Finance minister Kanu Desai pointing to the image of Kansari Devi in the Warli Art on the budget cover.

Asked how she came to design the budget document cover, she told the Indian Express that she had known the current Gujarat Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai since the late 90s when he was working at United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) in Vapi, Valsad. Desai, she said, had visited her exhibition there.

Recently, while they both happened to be in Vapi, they met at the most unlikely of places, at a besna (prayer meet for the dead). There, Patel saw a file-folder used by the Gujarat government that was said to have Warli art on it. “When I saw the folder, I criticized it which led to Desai asking me to help design them.’’

Then, just before the 2023-24 budget, Patel said she got a call from Desai, who is the MLA of Pardi in Valsad, asking her to make Warli-inspired art for the Budget cover. “I put in a representation of Lok Nritya (dance) and a musician playing the Pavri (tribal wind instrument) in the middle of the Budget cover. After that, I was fortunate to be asked to design the cover in 2024-25, 2025-26 and now for the budget of 2026-27.”