Saura style of painting is uncannily similar to that of Warli paintings, and it is not surprising because the Saura’s are a tribes that live in South of Odisha. The Saura tribes are amongst the oldest and they also find a mention in the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

These paintings originally made on the walls using natural pigments were dedicated to Idital their chief deity. They are form an integral part of the rituals and are loaded with symbolic meaning. The stick figures painted in white sharply contrast the ochre background, which the artists continue to use till date. Unlike the Warli paintings which include the outside world; farms, mountains and rivers, the Saura paintings are populated with human figures and at times include animals. The figures are composed with geometric form.