While there are no records of the exact origins of this art, its roots may be traced to as early as the 10th century AD. Research suggests that the tribals are the propagators of a tradition which originated sometime in the Neolithic period between 2,500 BC and 3,000 BC.
This art carry on a tradition stretching back to 2 500 or 3 000 BC. Their mural paintings are similar to those done between 500 and 10 000 BC in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka , in Madhya Pradesh. Their extremely rudimentary wall paintings use a very basic graphic vocabulary: a circle, a triangle and a square. The circle and triangle come from their observation of nature, the circle representing the sun and the moon, the triangle derived from mountains and pointed trees. Only the square seems to obey a different logic and seems to be a human invention, indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. So the central motive in each ritual painting is the square, the chauk; inside it we find Palaghata, the mother goddess, symbolizing fertility.
