Gandhinagar: Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai has selected an attractive budget cover featuring Warli art and an image of the tribal goddess Kansari Devi for the Gujarat Budget 2026–27.

Kansari Devi is revered among tribal communities as the goddess of grain, prosperity, and well-being. She is traditionally worshipped during weddings, the arrival of new harvests, and other auspicious occasions. Also known as Mata Annapurna, her worship is believed to ensure abundance of food, wealth, and happiness, making her one of the principal deities of tribal society.

The Warli tribe primarily resides in Valsad district of South Gujarat and in the neighbouring Thane district of Maharashtra. The community is globally recognised for its distinctive style of wall painting, traditionally created by Warli women using white pigment made from soaked and ground rice. These paintings are commonly drawn on the walls of homes during festivals, engagements, weddings, harvest celebrations, and childbirth.

Warli paintings portray scenes from daily life and nature, including dances, forests, rivers, mountains, animals, birds, and village activities such as farming, cooking, fetching water, and rituals dedicated to deities like Indradev, Vaghadev, and Kansari Devi. The art form typically employs simple geometric shapes such as circles, triangles, and squares arranged in linear patterns.

Believed to be over 1,200 years old, Warli art is gradually declining under the influence of modernisation. By featuring this traditional art on the state budget document, the Gujarat government has made a notable effort to preserve and promote this heritage.

Notably, Warli artist Bina Hasmukh Patel has designed the budget artwork this year as well. She has been contributing illustrations for the budget cover for the past four years. DeshGujarat