Spectacular Madhubani Art from Bihar : Origin, Genesis, Theme & Colour

The Early Origin of Madhubani Art

The Mithila, the birthplace of the Madhubani art is the birthplace of Sita too. It is situated in Bihar and is surrounded by the Himalayas, river Kosi, Gangaand Gandak.The story is that Raja Janak of Janakpur was overwhelmed by the preparations of the wedding of her daughter Sita with Lord Rama.

He wanted to prepare his State in the manner that people will remember the colourfulness whenever there will be any discussion on a marriage. He, thus ordered to decorate his terrritory in a beautiful manner by splashing a riot of colors on mud walls in some appropriate theme. Accordingly, artists of the State and everybody interested and skilled in art joined the efforts. The result was that a new form of a beautiful art emerged. The divinity and righteousness of women, which is known as empowerment of womenfolk used to begin to be depicted in that time through this art.

The Madhubani art is basically created by a group of artists, led by some senior artist, usually amongst the women artists of the village. These women paints in clusters. Since the area where the art form emerged and boomed is known as Mithila, a part of which is in Bihar and the rest is in Nepal,  these art forms are also known as Mithla art.

Some people say that Madhubani word can be breaked into Madhu and Ban, means a forest of honey. This shows their longings for the art. Though the art form is known to the area as early as seventh centuries onwards, it flourishes in Ramayan era and then after year 1930.

Theme and Colour of Madhubani Art

The  earlier basic themes were based on mythological, folk and spiritual scenario and ultimately revolve to plants, flowers; especially lotus, birds, snakes, different god and deities, story of Ramayana and subjects of women empowerment. Devotion to God, love to God, deities and one’s family, etc. had been the central themes in yesteryears. Later, the themes extended to cover exotic areas of interests too.

Traditional village artists used to employ vegetable dye colours in creating wonderful themes, but in the modern times use of synthetic colours is much prevalent.  The colours were extracted from plants and charcoal soot etc. Different colours were produced by mixing different natural substances. For example  Black colour was prepared by joining soot with cow dung. Similarly, Red colour was obtained from flower of Kusum and Blue from Indigo and so on. Though, it is a matter of satisfaction that even after centuries, to be precise from Ramayana era, the artists of Mithila paintings still believed in the coherence and original style of the Madhubani  form of art. They have migrated to the media of canvas, handmade paper and other types of paper as well as pastered walls to create the form.

To get a piece of Madhubani Art, the best place is Bihar  State Government Emporium, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi and other states’ capitals. Besides, Dilli Haat, Taj Festival in Agra and various handicrafts fair in different part of the country also exhibit the art. Some online ecommerce sites too sell these pieces of art but their authencity remains doubtful. So, better buy it from an artist or a local person who can explain its theme and voch for its authenticity.

Hope you liked our article about this amazing Madhubani Art from Bihar. If you have any queries or feedback, you may leave your comments below.

You may also like to Read :

• Delhi Haat : One of a kind unique shopping market in Delhi

• List of 10 Best Shopping markets in Delhi 

• Know about the Top 10 Shopping Malls in Delhi NCR 

• Know about Top 5 Water Parks in Delhi NCR 

• Top 10 Places to Visit in Delhi