“It’s an expression of life,” said Madhvi aunty. I visited one of my friend’s house where I saw a Madhubani Painting hung on the wall of the drawing hall. When I asked her about it, she mentioned that it is not just a painting but a part of her life. It was that moment which got me really hooked to explore about it.
Origin - place, style and tradition
Madhubani painting, also known as Mithila Painting, is more than 2500 years old folk art. It is famous rural art of Madhubani, a village in the Mithila region of Bihar State, India. It’s said to be present at the time of Ramayana. King Janaka requested many artists to paint his daughter Sita’s wedding with Prince Rama. During the earlier time, the paintings used to be painted on the house walls by the ladies.
The paintings are mostly influenced by Indian culture and beliefs. Many professionals are driven by the love of painting Hindu Deities, Lord Rama, Krishna, Kali, Shiva, abstract scenes from king’s courtroom, day-to-day life. Sun has been always an important part in this art form as it is considered god as per Indian mythology but scientifically it is a source of energy and necessity of life on earth. For example, if the sun has to depict dusk or dawn then it will be represented with mellow eyes; large eyes to depict noontime. These are some of the themes they capture with the colour palate on a cloth or wall or canvas.
Even the colours used were being naturally extracted like Black, the predominant colour, came from mixing the soot with the cow dung; blue came from indigo; white from the rice powder; red from the famous Kusum flower and yellow from mixing turmeric or lime with the milk of the banyan leaves that are strewn across the region.
The revival of the Art
Madhubani paintings have become a prominent face of the culture of Bihar. A visit to Patna, capital of Bihar, will tell you the pride that they carry promoting Madhubani Art. All the government building ceilings, wall-boundaries and ghats around the city portray the culture with the depiction of Chatt Puja, Holi, Durga Puja and various celebrations. Local artists have received a boost in demand and recognition for their talent due to such great initiative by Bihar Government.
Recently, Madhubani painting style came into limelight in 2017 when “Swachhta hi Seva” campaign was taken as a mission on large scale Mithila painting by Samstipur Railway Division (ECR) at Madhubani Station. This mission continued for straight 13 days till 14th Oct 2017 with the help of around 180 artists creating around 160 paintings covering 9414 sq feet area; creating world record and is expected to attract tourism to the Madhubani District. This campaign not only created an open Mithila art gallery but also empowered the artists and gave them the platform to explore and showcase their talent. It was a revolution which has been very well shown in this video.
Fun fact, Madhubani art has 5 distinctive styles i.e Bharni, Katchni, Godna, Tantrik and Kohbar. In ancient times Tantrik, Katchni and Bharni were done by Brahmin and Kayastha women who were considered to be from the upper caste. Their themes were mainly religious depicting flora, fauna, god and goddesses. Other caste women used to paint their daily life. However, Madhubani paintings are now a global form of art. Thankfully nowadays there is no difference and discrimination in the type of painting the artist chooses to paint.
Madhubani paintings also use geometric figures and symbols has a strong association with the Feng Shui philosophy. The use of flowers like special lotus, fishes, birds has a close association with the concept of divinity and spirituality in Feng Shui. Feng Shui is a Chinese word where “Feng” means “wind” and “Shui” means “water".
Madhubani or Mithila art has its own characteristics like:
It uses many geometric shapes into their paintings
The canvas is completely filled i.e there are no blank spaces
They always have definite and beautiful borders
It has vibrant and bright colours like yellow, red, blue, black, green
It includes flora, fauna, god, goddesses, daily life, animals planets and Sun
There are many artists who are known for their paintings but there are few of them have pushed the boundaries and have been recognized for their art. Jagdamba Devi was the first artist from Mithila to receive a National Award in Mithila paintings 1975, Sita Devi is considered as a pioneering Madhubani artist. She brought “Bharni” form out to the public at a global level for which she was recognized by the Government of India in 1981 and she was awarded prestigious, the Padma Shri. Likewise, Pushpa Kumari was known for her illustrations of the social issues with a spiritual perspective. Remant Mishra is a disciple of Sita Devi has been contributing to the art and has been noted on various global platforms.
Today, Madhubani art has found its way to not just art galleries but also to our daily life by different designers. Here's my attempt to honour the Madhubani art. Do follow me!
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