Hazaribagh, the “land of a thousand gardens,” is one of India’s least known art paradises. A small district in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, Hazaribagh is home to many tribes and ethnic communities such as the Munda, Santal, Oraon, Agaria, Birhor, Kurmi, Prajapati, Ghatwal and Ganju. Unknown to most of the world, the women of the region have been painting their homes with beautiful designs for centuries, drawing upon an art heritage that harks back to the cave paintings discovered in the region. Two kinds of ritual wall paintings are commonly seen in most of the houses: the khovar associated with marriages and the sohrai with the harvest. The women artists create verdant images of flora and fauna, literally transforming the villages into a land of gardens. These art forms are not just expressions of beauty and creativity but are also important means of transmitting cultural values. Khovar which literally translates into bridal cave (Kho means cave and var is the bridal couple) is the name for special murals made during weddings. This is a type of sagraffito art using the “reversed slip” pottery technique. This technique consists of applying a base coat of black clay on the earthen walls of the homes and letting it dry. After it is dry, a wet slip of creamy white earth-coloured kaolin is applied to the wall. Working quickly, the women use four fingers of their hands or a plastic or bamboo comb to scrape out designs on the wet clay. Flowers, birds, and magnificent beasts—including tigers, deer, cows, oxen as well as anthropomorphic motifs—come alive on the walls. The underlying black clay which is revealed as the design is drawn in sharp contrast to the white clay, and the comb markings add a further layer of design and complexity to the mural. Sohrai is an art form associated with the winter harvest festival celebrated one day before Diwali (festival of lights) in winter. Women use earth colours such as red ochre, yellow, and black to create Sohrai murals depicting Pashupati (lord of animals), Kamla baan (forest of lotuses), and Tree of Life as well as multiple animals and birds. These murals are painted on the walls using cloth swabs or the chewed twigs of the local Saal tree. Many of the designs may be compared with the prehistoric rock art, pottery markings, and prehistoric seal motifs from Harappa. Today, the Sohrai and Khovar art traditions are under threat of perishing. In the interest of being a "developed" nation, the Government of India is committed to providing permanent brick and cement houses (pucca houses) to replace those made of mud and wattle (kuccha). The brick houses do not lend themselves to being painted with clay colours and, as a result, these art forms are disappearing.