Madhubani painting (or Mithila painting) is a style of Indian painting practiced in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent. Women from different communities of the region have traditionally been making Madhubani images.
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Architect Kazi Anisuddin Iqbal According to Hinduism, Rama was an avatar, that is, a male deity. That he was not a God, but Narayan himself, and his better half in this mortal world was Sita. When Rama was the Prince of Ayodhya, he was married to the daughter of King Janaka. The former kingdom of Mithila, which covered parts of present-day India and Nepal, was ruled by King Janaka. On the occasion of the marriage of Rama and Sita, King Janaka ordered the artists to decorate the premises all around. They painted colorful pictures on the walls and floors of the house. That’s how, some may claim that the beginning of this Mithila painting is contemporary with the reign of Rama. |
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But everyone understands that a style of painting is not developed in a day, a folk art style is created by the practice of many people for many ages. A folk painting for home decoration during festival or Pala-Parban has been practiced for ages in ‘Mithila’ of India i.e. Bihar and Nepal. Another name of Mithila is Madhuban, hence it is called ‘Madhubani Painting’ or ‘Mithila Painting’. In rural areas, the mud walls or floors are coated with cow dung mud balls for maintenance of mud houses. Walls which are damaged by rainwater become new with such repairs. Painting these new walls with bright colors is very beautiful, which is a source of joy for all. It is not possible to know what the content of these pictures were in the beginning. The old image was erased to cover the new soil. Just as the mud walls. The pictures on it are temporary as well. |
Image : Madhubani painting on mud wall |
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Image : Madhubani mahavidyas |
In 1934, there was a terrible earthquake on the India-Nepal border. At that time, British officer William Archer came to see the affected area and found Madhubani paintings on the broken walls. He was fascinated by these wall paintings and took many pictures. His pictures were later exhibited and Madhubani painting became known as a distinct genre of folk art in India. Indian religions value the arts. All the art mediums practiced in ancient times were practiced in India, there was no restriction of religion. However, with the passage of time, the rules have been made for these practices. For example, when making a sculpture or an idol, one has to follow certain calculations, rhythms or dimensions, these classical teachings are difficult to master if one does not apprentice with a guru. Music, dance are also classical methods of education. But the Bhatiali song or Baul dance-song in the voice of the boatman does not abide by those rules and regulations. Where can anyone find so many classical artists for the decoration when the entire village is lit up on the day of the festival? That’s why the folk artists used to train the enthusiastic men and women as collaborators in various art forms. Through practice, these unskilled hands became increasingly skilled and gave birth to a genre of folk art. There was a lot of freedom in creating art without being dictated by classical rules. In a religious society, there is a high demand for religious stories, so even if any other accessory was included in the picture, it would have been placed as a companion to those stories. When such an art achieved some success, the priestly class would guide him in some direction. Temple pujas are more frequent than village public festivals, so it is better for artists to follow the guidelines given by temples. |
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Madhubani painting style has been followed or practiced for generations since ancient times. This art style is one of the styles of interior decoration in this region. The women of the house draw these pictures on the walls of the house like Alpana, along with the mythology, their own thoughts, imagination and sense of beauty are placed in the picture in various ways. At first, several genres were created in Madhubani painting, the origin of these genres is from the difference in the artists’ thoughts and ideas. In short they are called by 5 names, 1.(Tantrik): Represents traditional and religious in very precise manner. |
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Image : Tantrik style madhubani painting |
Image : Kohbar style madhubani painting |
Image : Bharni style madhubani painting |
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Image : Godna style madhubani painting |
Image : Katchni style madhubani painting |
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Madhubani paintings are based on legends of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, the most prominent of which are Rama-Sita, Krishna, Lakshmi, Shiva, Durga, Saraswati. In addition to this, various side characters selected from the Ramayana story are also depicted, such as the companions of the Gods and Goddesses or Moon-Sun, Peacock, Garuda are quite visible in the paintings. The presentation of the picture is simple enough. Frame is a part of the picture which is designed as the border. Inside the frame, the content is drawn by a combination of main and subsidiary lines. It is important to use two parallel lines in the main picture, which has a philosophical principle. This dynamic line serves as a metaphor for taking the same route in two different worlds while preserving the difference between the two opposites. Light-dark, sour-sweet, beautiful-ugly, fierce-calm and other opposites can all be found in nature. The rule of using natural colors in Madhubani painting was initially black-and-white with orange, green, and red, later pink, purple, and blue were added. The color ingredients are rice powder, tamarind and other various fruits and seeds, flowers and pollens, natural indigo, sandalwood, various flowers and leaves, tree bark, young twigs and vines. Flowers are not plucked to make dyes, fallen flowers are used. In the past, artists used to make their own colors with utmost care, but now chemically produced colors are cheap and even some natural colors are available in the market. |
Image : Madhubani art - Vishnu |
| Madhubani painting was a decorative style, painted on walls, but mud houses are now declining, walls constructed with brick masonry are much more durable. House floors are also now made of many different materials. Instead of rice powder or other perishable colors, everyone wants permanent colors, the content is also influenced by contemporary thinking instead of Gods and Goddesses. But the biggest change has come in the medium, i.e. Madhubani is now not only a wall painting, but this painting is being made on different types of flat paper, different types of cloth, on board. Urban artists and dress designers send out designs based on market demand, while Madhubani painters draw on paper or cloth accordingly. Some artists these days are painting Madhubani on house walls or on the walls of Prayer space with no longer the earlier limited colors, but all the colors available in the market are used for all mediums. Being so market-oriented, deviations from the mainstream are high, making it very possible to confuse them with other Indian folk paintings. The easy way to recognize Madhubani image is that ‘two parallel lines’. |
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Image : Krishna & Radha madhubani painting (Padma Sri Sita Devi) |
Image : Vegetal colors on paper depicting the Ram-Sita marriage (Jagadamba Devi, Padma Sri) |
| Leaving Madhuban in Bihar, this art is now struggling to become a citizen, some artists have established training centers, some workshops, studios and even exhibition centers to maintain the essence of this art. Several Madhubani artists have been honored with India’s national awards Padma Bhushan, Chandra Bhushan etc. Also Madhubani industry is getting more and more international attention. A museum in Japan has a collection of thousands of Madhubani paintings. |
| Translated by : Architect Faiza Fairooz Nirnoy Upodestha ltd, Panthapath |
