The Bhils are a large tribal community residing in central India (Madhya Pradesh). They can trace their ancestry to Eklavya and Valmiki, who, they say, was actually from their community. These paintings were traditionally painted on the walls of their huts and the themes were centred on Mother Nature. They use a pattern of dots to fill in their paintings and are surprisingly similar to Australian Aboriginal art. Everything connected with the Bhil life is painted- the Sun, The Moon, insects, birds, fields, trees, mythological figures and their Gods. The frog and the fish are considered auspicious by the Bhils and harbingers of prosperity. The frogs alert the farmers of the approaching monsoons and they get busy deciding on the crops that they were going to sow and in the preparation of the sowing. As this is the season when the frogs get married, the farmers know it is time to go to their fields and start the sowing process when they hear the croaks of the frogs going in the marriage procession. Of the two paintings displayed here, one is by Bhuri Bai, the first Bhil artist to paint on paper or canvas. She was brought to Bhopal by the late J. Swaminathan, Director of Bharat Bhavan along with the now well-known Gond artist, Jangarh Singh Shyam. She has won various awards for her work, including the Shikhar Samman and Ahilya Samman. The other painting is by her son, Anil Bariya, who has trained under her for almost two decades.