: Padma Shri Artist From Madhya Pradesh Once Worked As A Daily Wager, Earning Rs 6 #IndiaNEWS Rising from the ashes and breaking barriers is her forte. Madhya Pradesh-based Bhuri Bai has experienced

Padma Shri Artist From Madhya Pradesh Once Worked As A Daily Wager, Earning Rs 6 #IndiaNEWS
Rising from the ashes and breaking barriers is her forte.
Madhya Pradesh-based Bhuri Bai has experienced acute poverty first hand and has also worked as a child labourer just to be able to afford one square meal. When she was 10, her house was burnt down in a fire, so her family built a makeshift house from hay and lived there for years.
She was a child bride and post-marriage survived on a meagre income of Rs 6 per day. When Bhuri finally found a breakthrough with Pithora painting, an enriched folk art, her Bhil tribe condemned her for it as women weren’t allowed to indulge in art forms. They even played the patriarchal card by suggesting her husband was not man enough to earn as much as Bhuri was earning through her paintings.
However, the feisty Bhuri never let these adversities triumph over her innate talent and continued to move forward, using the skills of the ancient art.
On 25 January, she reached the height of validation after receiving the prestigious Padma Shri for her contributions in preserving the traditional art form and taking it to the world stage. From Lucknow to London, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad to the United States and the United Kingdom, her paintings have travelled far and wide.

The 52-year-old, who now lives in Bhopal with her husband and children, speaks to The Better India and couldn’t contain her excitement on receiving India’s fourth-highest civilian award.
“On 25 January I received a call from a government ministry informing me about the award. At first, I thought it was just another award until journalists started lining up outside my house. I am very honoured and proud to receive the award and I want to dedicate this to all the girls in rural areas who dare to dream and not let the circumstances define their life,??? says an ecstatic Bhuri.
Staying true to her roots, Bhuri has not let the award get to her head as she continues to follow her daily routine and go to work at Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum in Bhopal. Her innocence and humility are intact, something that is mirrored in all her artworks.
Bhuri’s tale is worthy of a biopic and it begins in Jabhua’s rural landscape in the late 1960s.
An Accidental Discovery

The Jhabua district is home to the Bhil tribe, also referred to as the ‘brave bowmen of India’, who predominantly survived on forest resources in the 1800s. With time, agriculture became their main occupation. Surrounded by the Mahi river in the north and the Narmada in the south, this region is also the hub of ‘Pithora’, a spectacular ancient art form that is created on walls.
The Pithora paintings are soaked with religious and cultural significance.

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