India is a land of diversity, where many arts and crafts have originated and flourished. But many of them have been lost in antiquity or on the verge of extinction in the absence of any documentation or record.

The culture of a place can be studied by its art and craft. It reflects the basic nature & creativity of the person, prevailing socio-cultural condition,the environment, and theindividual  thought process. In ancient times it was one of the ways of communicating and expressing their feelings. Some of it has been patronized by the royals and nobles and thus has received great attention and popularisation. In many cases, it has survived and popularised with the use of technology. However many of the tribal arts could not survive and reach to mainstream. The reason was, that the tribal people stuck to their traditions and were never exposed to the modern technology / skills; thus remained deprived of popularity beyond their own domain however  preserved their culture.

The eastern part of India is a habitant of many tribes. They follow their old traditions and conventional living styles. They have not adopted much technology and practising the old traditions and so is their art and crafts. It is restricted to their tribe only. Many of them have been lost in antiquity, but some are still there.

The authors are trying to revive and bring this art and craft to the mainstream by researching it in detail and publishing the research findings.

This coffee book on "Sohrai" is the first attempt towards this. This is an art from the HazaribaghChotanagpurarea in Jharkhand state of India. It includes information about the origin, history, and method of the "Sohrai" paintings. The mood and thought process of the artists have been the key elements in the painting. The information in this book is a journey into the tribal culture through painting.