MADHUBANI PAINTING: A 2500-YEAR-OLD FOLK ART FORM
In 1934 there was a massive earthquake in Bihar, an Eastern state of India. A British Colonial officer of Madhubani district William G. Archer stumbled upon the paintings on the interior walls of the homes while examining the damages. This style of painting is known as Madhubani painting. This style is also known as Mithila painting or Bhitti Chitra.
This 2500-year-old folk art, the history of Madhubani paintings is said to date back to the time of Ramayana, (an ancient Sanskrit epic written by Valmiki) when king Janaka asked an artist to capture his daughter Sita's wedding to Prince Rama. These paintings were usually created by women on walls and floors of homes during festivals, ceremonies or special occasions.
Having originated in the Mithila region in Bihar, this form of painting became known as Mithila art or Madhubani painting. The literal meaning of Madhubani is "honey from the forest"
The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now they are also done on cloth, handmade paper, and canvas. Madhubani painting has remained confined to a compact geographical area and the skills have been passed on through centuries, the content and the style have largely remained the same.
Mithila or Madhubani paintings are done using fingers and twigs as well as matchsticks and pen nibs in the modern-day. Usually, bright colours are used in these paintings with an outline made from rice paste as its framework. There are rarely any blank spaces in these paintings. If there's a border, it is embellished with geometric and floral patterns. Natural dyes are used for the paintings. For example, charcoal and soot for black, turmeric extract for yellow, red from sandalwood, blue from indigo, and so on.
Madhubani paintings are characterised by figures that have prominently outlined, bulging fish-like eyes and pointed noses. The themes of these paintings usually include natural elements like fish, parrot, elephant, turtle, sun, moon, bamboo tree, and lotus. Geometric patterns can also be seen in these pictures that often symbolize love, valour, devotion, fertility, and prosperity. This ancient art form has also been known to depict scenes of wedding rituals, religious rituals, and different cultural events such as festivals, from mythology like Ramayana, Mahabharata (another Sanskrit epic composed by Vyasadev), and other mythologies.
Bride on a palanquin- Madhubani Painting
Madhubani art has five distinctive styles: Bharni, Katchni, Tantrik, Godna, and Kohbar. Bharni and Tantrik styles were mainly done by Brahman women, who are 'upper caste' women. Their themes were mainly religious and they depicted Gods and Goddesses. People of lower castes included aspects of their daily life and symbols, the story of Raja Shailesh (considered as God by the Dusadh community), and others. Nowadays Madhubani art has become a globalised art form, so there is no difference in the work on the basis of the caste system. They all work in all five styles.
Elephant- Madhubani painting.
The Madhubani painting tradition played a key role in the conservation efforts in India in 2012, where there was frequent deforestation in the state of Bihar. Shashthi Nath Jha, who runs the Gram Vikas Parishad, an NGO, started the initiative as an attempt to protect local trees that were being cut down in the name of expanding roads and development. The main reason behind this was that the trees were traditionally adorned with forms of gods and other religious and spiritual images such as those of Radha-Krishna, Rama-Sita, scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata, and other mythologies.
Birds and Fishes - Madhubani painting
In the 1960s when drought-hit Bihar, the All-India Handicrafts Board encouraged upper-caste women in villages around Madhubani town to make ritualistic paintings on paper to generate income. Slowly the style of painting became popular in many articles from greeting cards to dress materials.
Madhubani remains ever-popular on the home decor front in the form of prints for table linens, napkin rings, and lamps and most importantly on wall hangings because Mithila art was originally used for decorating walls and floors of homes. Today, Madhubani art attracts interest in art lovers from all over the world.
The Madhubani paintings are inspirations of paintings done by me with Watercolours, Coloured Pencils, and Ink. Hand-painted artwork and Limited-edition prints are available for sale. Please check the below paintings:
* KRISHNA IN RAAS WITH GOPINI.
*Sources
Wikipedia
Metropolitan Museum.
Dulwich Picture Gallery.
