The Durga Puja pandal, particularly the inside of Mall Pally at Dum Dum, has the ambience of an art gallery adorned with works of art essayed by pre-historic men.

The reason: all the works, paintings, motifs, and other works of art are created by tribal artistes from the Sri- kakulam district of Andhra Pradesh who have never received any formal training in art.

The aritstes, four men and three women, had come from Sri Kakulum and stayed for four days to create the spectacular decoration of the pandal that is attracting hordes of people — not only puja revelers but also connoisseurs of art.

“You can simply call it Sri-kakulam tribal art. The art is simple, cherubic, the leitmotif is easy to understand, yet it is elegant,” M Srinivasa Rao, who has been sent by the Andhra Pradesh Government to promote their art, especially tribal art, and has set up a stall there, told The Indian Express.

In fact, it is the Andhra Pradesh government that arranged for the artistes on the request of the organisers.

The treasurer of Mall Pally, which is organising the puja for the 56th year this time, Shantanu Sengupta said, “We had always organised the puja in the traditional way. But this year we thought we would organise it on a theme. And after a meeting of our puja committee, we decided to focus on tribal art. The tribes staying at various places in India feel isolated and it is triggering unrest. It’s our humble effort to bring them into the mainstream of society.”