Madhubani  paintings.

The Magnificent Art of Mithila.

Author

Minakshi jha “manu prashant”

Madhubani painting or Mithila painting

Inroduction:-

Madhubani painting or Mithila painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state, India and the adjoining parts of Terai in Nepal. Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by eye-catching geometrical patterns. There are paintings for each occasion and festival such as birth, marriage, holi (i.e. festival of colors), surya shasti( i.e. cosmic position of the sun), kali puja (i.e. worship of goddess of destruction), Upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony), and durga puja (i.e. worship of goddess of power and prosperity). Apart from that story of Lord Rama, various incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Lord Visharha (i.e. the serpent god) and life of Lord Buddha are also the subject themes of madhubani paintings. Inclusion of nature in its full grandness is most recent subject theme of madhubani paintings.

Origins:-

The origins of Madhubani painting or Mithala Painting are shrouded in antiquity and mythology. The Madhubani or Mithila arts as  it is popularly known,  has originated at the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, to Hindu god Lord Ram. Mithila was a large and powerful kingdom in what are now north eastern part of India and southern Nepal. Today, Mithila refers to the area and the people who live there. Madhubani, which in literal translation means Forest of Honey, has been the cultural centre of Mithila region and is an important district in the northern part of Bihar, India. The women folk of this region have been practicing their folk art for centuries primarily to consecrate space around their habitation, during rituals (of family life, of the goddesses). They used to compose elaborate wall paintings or Bhitti-Chitra, and floor paintings or Aripan on their mud homes. Mothers in this region have been teaching their daughters patterns and dyes sometimes unknown to the men, for a long time little known to the outside world.  Madhubani painting has been done traditionally by the women of villages around the present town of Madhubani (the literal meaning of which is forests of honey) and other areas of Mithila. The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas. Madhubani paintings are made from the paste of powdered rice. 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. And that’s why this has been given the coveted GI (geographical Indication) status. Madhubani paintings also use two dimensional imagery, and the colors used are derived from plants. Ochre and lampblack are also used for reddish brown and black respectively.

Themes of Madhubani Paintings:-

Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Natural objects like the sun, the moon, and religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs. Objects depicted in the walls of kohabar ghar (room where newly wed couple sees each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure and procreation. Traditionally, painting was one of the skills that were passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila Region, mainly by women.

Styles of Madhubani Art:-

There are three styles of Madhubani painting
1.Brahmin or barhni Style

2. Godhna or tattoo Style

3.Kachni or kyastha  Style

          1. Brahman or barhni style: -

The Brahmin style of painting lavishly deals with rich variety of colours. Their easy access to Hindu sacred literature has helped them immensely in portraying the rich Hindu iconography and mythology. The main subject and theme of Brahman style consists  depiction of rituals like marriage, Upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) and festival ceremonies like holi . festival of colors), kali puja ( worship of goddess of destruction), fish(symbol of good luck) and durga puja ( worship of goddess of   power and prosperity).The painting depicting Kohbar ghar ( nuptial room where newly wed couple sees each other in the first night) is the most conspicuous theme of the Brahman style of madhubani art. The Brahman style bores the hallmark of the use of bright colors and high decoration in the paintings.

. 2. Godhna or tattoo style: - The Tattoo – based paintings reflect the primitive art and creates its impact by a serial replication of the same image. The lower section of the society, existing in Maithil society at that particular time, practiced this style of Madhubani paintings. The painting is originally in the form of a line – drawings and is divided into several horizontal margins. Considering its rich use of colour it is closer to the Brahmin school of painting. This style is marked by drawing lines in several horizontal margins. These are symbolic paintings that are done on the white background with black and the use of few colors. Figures of elephant, serpents, fish, peacock, parrots  and sun is generally drawn on either paper or cloths within a border with black color derived from lampblack. No space is left blank as they are decorated with figures of plant creepers. If color is used then blank space appears with few interbeds of ornamentation It has an inherent charm with its intricate patterns in just a few basic colors.

3. Kachni or kayastha style:-  The unique feature of the Kayastha tradition is the use of monochrome colour, combination, like black, red, green, maroon etc. It was basically a practice of elaborate wall paintings of the nuptial chamber, Kohbar Ghar with representations of the lotus, bamboo grove, fish, birds and snakes in union, which largely symbolizes fertility and life. Even when this style is conceived in paper, single colour line work defines the Kayastha style of painting even today. The practitioners of  this style of Madhubani art opts for muted hues and mostly the figures and paintings are filled with fine lines. Canvass painting is also done.  Lines used are colorful and are very closely drawn to each other giving an apparent appearance of knitting pattern. The figures of turtle, diya (the earthen lamp), Kohbar (the nuptial room) etc. are some of subject theme of this style. Use of bright colors is generally avoided.

All these styles were traditionally done on the mud walls of nuptial room, Kohbar Ghar, place of worship, Gosain Ghar and the mud floors (Aripan). It used to be drawn on walls washed with clay or often coated with a layer of cow-dung. Vegetable dyes, black shoots, carnation pollen, red clay were used as colours using homemade brush of twigs wrapped with some strips of cloth.

Themes:-   

The themes of these paintings are usually folk or mythological. The paintings of Kobhar (done in nuptial room on the walls) are designed to bless the newly wed couple. The central theme of most of the above paintings is love and fertility. Symbols of fertility and prosperity, fish, parrot, elephant, turtle sun, moon, lotus, bamboos are prominent.

Apart from that the story of Rama-Sita, Krishna –Radha, Tales from life of Krishna, Ramayana and mahabharata is common. Shiva- Shakti, Kali, Durga, Saraswati, Ganesh, Lakshmi, Ravana. Hanuman and scenes of social events appears on the walls. The floral, animal and bird motifs form the backgrounds. There is hardly any empty space left. The human figures are abstract and linear in form. There is no shading technique used. The outline is done with double lines; the gaps between the lines are sometimes filled with cross or straight lines.These wall paintings became a commercial activity and they were transferred to handmade paper, cloths, canvas, silk, greeting cards, dress materials etc.In the beginning homemade natural colors were used, but now mostly synthetic colors that are available in plenty are used. The colors are usually deep red, green, blue, black, brown, pink and yellow. 

Process, Talent & Skills Needed:-
The painters use a handmade brush for Mithila or Madhubani art, which is made of a bamboo stick, with its end slightly frayed. Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by eye-catching geometrical patterns.

Materials used, durability:-
Traditionally, natural colours were obtained from plant extracts like henna leaves, flower, bougainvillea, neem, etc. Then, to make the paint stick to the painting medium, these natural juices are mixed with banana leaves resin and ordinary gum. In recent times, synthetic colours, which come in powdered form, are easily available in the market. However, artists still use colours derived from natural sources. Once the paints are ready, two different kinds of brushes are used - one for small details which is made out of bamboo twigs and the other for filling in the space which is made from a small piece of cloth attached to a twig.The most popular natural colors in Madhubani art include deep red which is derived from Kusuma flower, black from burnt jowar, green from Bel trees, orange from Palasa flower and light yellow from turmeric mixed with banyan leaf milk.
Rarity:-
As Madhubani painting has remained confined to a compact geographical area of Mithila and the skills have been passed on through centuries, the content and the style have largely remained the same.As the map indicates, the Mithila region and the villages around Madhubani are situated near the northern edge of the state of Bihar as it approaches the India-Nepal border. People of Mithila have their own language and a sense of regional identity that goes back more than 2500 years. Among the most celebrated figures believed to have been born in the region are Mahavira (a great spiritual hero of the Jain religion), Siddhartha Gautama (better known to the world as the Buddha), and Sita (the legendary wife of Prince Rama and herself a central figure in India's most popular epic, the Ramayana).

Aesthetics:-

Madhubani paintings use two dimensional imagery, and the colors used are derived from plants. Ochre and lampblack are also used for reddish brown and black respectively.Madhubani paintings were traditionally made to bless the married couple and the main theme of these paintings usually revolves around love and fertility. The symbols of fertility and prosperity include sun, moon, parrot, elephant, fish, turtle, bamboo tree, lotus, etc. The colours used are bright - blue, black, deep red, light yellow, pink, lemon and green and these created the right mood and played an important role. The bright red and yellow depict energy, passion and the binding force.

It is because of their desire to please their gods and to develop their spirituality that brought in Madhubani Painting. Like almost all other folklore around the world, these paintings too have elements of myth and have tales revolving around the origin of the earth, life, existence of gods and supernatural beings like gandharvas, apsaras, and stories based morals. Additionally they have assimilated the themes from Hinduism, Buddhism on a common tantrik foundation.For weddings and festivals, they embellish the outer walls of their homes with elaborate drawings based on familiar mythological stories. The walls of the wedding chamber (Kohbar Ghar) were adorned with symbolic paintings symbolizing fertility and life.

International acclamation:-

 Among the first modern outsiders to document the tradition of Madhubani painting were William and Mildred Archer. Archer was a British civil servant assigned to the district during the colonial era. The Archers obtained some drawings on paper that the women painters were using as aids to memory. Works that the Archers collected went to the India Records Office in London (now part of the British Library) where a small number of specialists could study them as creative instances of India's folk art.Madhubani Art gained recognition in India in the late 1960's after a drought in the region brought a severe economic crisis and forced the local women to transform their art on to paper and sell it.

Flourishing Art:-

Traditionally, Madhubani painting was one of the skills that was passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila Region, mainly by women. The painting was usually done on walls during festivals, religious events, and other milestones of the life-cycle such as birth, Upanayanam (Sacred thread ceremony), and marriage. The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud wall of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas.

Government promotion to the art:-

In the mid-sixties, the madhubani or mithila region underwent a blistering drought and its inhabitants faced widespread starvation. In 1965, an aid worker for the Indian government, Bhaskar Kulkarni, arrived from Delhi and encouraged the idea of translating these traditional wall paintings onto paper. Materials like Paper and colours were supplied to these artists free and the resulting work was sold through government handicraft shops all over the country. As a result these works became famous as “Madhubani Paintings”. Women of the region still paint on the walls and floors of their houses, but many of them (and now a days, sometimes men too!) paint on paper, enabling their art to be sold around the world.

In order to create a new source of non-agricultural income, the All-India Handicrafts Board encouraged the women artists to produce their traditional paintings on handmade paper for commercial sale. Since then, painting has become a primary source of income for scores of families. It is a tribute to the resourcefulness of the women of Mithila who have successfully transferred their techniques of bhitti chitra or wall-painting to the medium of paper and cloth.

In 1988, an earthquake in the region devastated parts of Darbhanga and Madhubani and the palace complex, replete with paintings done two centuries ago, as per the Mithila traditions, was also damaged. Government of India as well as the state government aggressively promotes madhubani painting through various programmes. Many universities are providing scholarship to students so as to promote this art.

Prominent practitioners:-

The main artists include late Smt Jagdamba Devi, late Smt Sita Devi, Smt Mahasundari Devi and others. In the present time young women of madhubani , many of them disciples of the renowned madhubani painting artists have taken upon themselves to further promote this painting art and are infusing new ideas and patterns. The present prominent practitioners of Madhubani paintings are Mrs. Hema jha, Sukanya jha, Bhavya jha and Mrs.Minakshi jha to name a few. Madhubani painting got official recognition in 1970 when the President of India gave an award to Mrs. Jagdamba Devi of Village Jitbarpur near Madhubani.

                     

About The Author:-

 Among the new generation of artist Mrs. Minakshi jha has carved out a niche for herself by infusing new ideas of pattern, themes and color combination in madhubani art. What is Unique in Minakshi’s work is the fact that she centers her art to heritage style and yet manages to create an entirely modern and contemporary work from it. She has merged various style of madhubani art into one and has very aesthetically presented a very new form of madhubani painting with all its beauty and grandness retained. A surge of fantasy in her work makes them appear fresh and Graceful. Her work is Experimental and Authentic. She uses both realism as well as abstractionism in her work with a lot of fantasy mixed into both. Her work has impeccable sense of balance, harmony and grace. A collection of some samples of Mithila’s paintings of Minakshi jha can be seen by visiting at her blog manuprashant.blogspot.com.