Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a three-day visit to South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS summit, presented special gifts to the organization’s leaders including South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, First Lady of South Africa Tshepo Motsepe, and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. PM Modi gifts Bidri Surahi, Nagaland Shawl, and Gond Painting to BRICS leaders.
PM Modi gifted Bidri a pair of ‘Surahi’ from Telangana to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Bidrivase is a purely Indian innovation of 500-year-old Persian, exclusive to Bidar. Bidrivase is cast with an alloy of Zinc, Copper, and other non-ferrous metals with pretty patterns engraved on the casting and inlaid with pure Silver wire. The casting is then soaked in a solution mixed with the special soil of Bidar Fort which has special oxidizing properties. This causes the Zinc alloy to turn into a lustrous black leaving the silver inlay intact to contrast stunningly with the black background.
The Prime Minister also gifted a Nagaland shawl to the First Lady of South Africa Tshepo Motsepe. Naga shawls are an exquisite form of textile art that has been woven for centuries by the tribes in the state of Nagaland. These shawls are known for their vibrant colors, intricate designs, and the use of traditional weaving techniques which have been passed down from generation to generation.
In addition, PM Modi also gifted Gond Painting from Madhya Pradesh to the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. These paintings are one of the most admired tribal art forms. The word ‘Gond’ comes from the Dravidian 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 colors and materials like charcoal, colored soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder, etc.
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