Modi Gifts Gond Art To New Australian PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gifted his newly elected Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese a Gond Art painting during his meeting with him on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo, Japan.

The historical evolution of ‘Gond’, also known as Pardhan painting or ‘Jangarh kalam,’ comes from a community of around four million people spread all over central India, Gonds have a recorded history of 1400 years.
Gond paintings are one of the most admired tribal art forms. The word ‘Gond’ comes from the expression ‘Kond’ which means ‘green mountain’.

These paintings, created by dots and lines, have been a part of pictorial art on walls and floors of Gonds and it is done with the construction and re-construction of each and every house, with locally available natural colours and materials like charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder, etc.

Gond art is considered very similar to Aboriginal art of Australia. The Aborigines have their own stories like the Gonds do about creation.

These two art forms are divided by thousands of miles of physical distance between their creators but are closely united and connected in their sentimentality and emotional core which are the definitive features of any art form.

PM Modi congratulated Prime Minister Albanese on his election victory. Both leaders reviewed the multi-faceted cooperation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defence manufacturing, renewable energy including green hydrogen, education, science and technology, agricultural research, sports and people-to-people ties.

Both Prime Ministers affirmed their desire to continue the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship.

PM Modi extended an invitation to the Australian Prime Minister to visit India at an early date.

The PM Modi also gifted a Wooden Handcarved box with Rogan Painting to the Japanese PM, and Sanjhi Art work to US president Joe Biden. (ANI)