Mithila Painting

The place has its own charm, when it’s speciality is world-famous.And that speciality of Mithila is its art, its painting which is called as Mithila Painting or Madhubani painting. This is the style of Indian painting practised in the Mithila region.Why specially Madhubani Painting? it is because , Madhubani is the birth place of this painting ,where now the world has eye on it. The painting is the identification mark of the city. Madhubani word means forest of honey(Madhuban) , more specifically it is said that people of this city speaks very sweetly their local language Maithili so Madhubani word came from (Madhur +Vaani), which means sweet dilect. The people , the culture and everything here is so close to the nature that even its paintings depict the nature. The paintings have thousands of stories to tell. The paintings have countless memories to cherish. The paintings are the mirror of the culture that this city has been following from thousands of years.The paintings are those glimpses of the society which has seen several sacrifices for its art and its custom.

Mithila Painting is one of the most famous art forms of India. It is the representation of ritual content.Mithila paintings are exclusive monopoly of artists . The paintings have depiction of social life which describes the strong connectedness of the people.Today the painting has its roots in Madhubani only but its spread is all of the world now.It is the demand of the Art markets of the world. From Dilli Haat in Delhi to Folk art market in Santa Fe in USA it is mesmerizing the world and the folks.Many companies has collaborated with the artists of Madhubani and are doing great businesses . The story of Mithila painting has started on the walls of the houses of the natives now it has evolved itself according to the fashion and changing generations. Now we can see this art form on the papers, clothes of different varities , ( stoles, sarees,salwaar Kameez, long skirt and so on) , useable products such as pen , pencil , mug, and lots of 3d objects. Recently Amazon has collaborated with the artists of Madhubani and has been preparing face masks with Mithila painting on them.This shows the grip of the painting in the global marketing. It is making itself appreciable beyond boundries of India and attracting art loving people. Japan , Germany , France and USA are the countries who are pouring their immense love to this beautiful heritage of Mithila.The art has recently been gifted to the first lady of the America Melania Trump while her first time arriving to India.

History and Origin

The history of the painting can be seen in the Ramayana . It is believed that the king of Mithila Raja Janak had first commissioned rural artists to paint palace walls . The ocassion was Janak’s daughter’s wedding Rajkumari Sita with Lord Rama.For making the paint more attractive , shinny and realistic , artists mixes cow dung and rock salt to the natural colors. The history of the painting has its roots in medival period too. It has said that many kings has bunch of Mithila paintings in their palaces which also reflects the magnificant history behind the painting.

But it came into limelight after the earthquake of 1934 . Because of the earthquake widespread destruction was faced by the people if the city. A British officer William G. Archer visited visited Madhubani for the inspection. While inspecting the walls of the destructed houses he found Mithila painting which was similar to the work of western artists Miro and Picaso. He took some pictures and wrote in an art magazine. Thus Madhubani painting also became known in the outside world.

In antiquity , this art was made on mud- walls or soil- ground on certain auspicious ocassions and that erased by time. And this is why there has been no preservation of the worus.

The painting imerged as a source of inome when the city faced drought in the years (1966-1968). All India handicrafts Board encouraged the women of Mithila to make painting for commercial purpose. Since then Mithila’s women started making paintings , sell them and help their family’s source of income.

Traditional fashion of paintings developed in the Mithila region , in the villages of Jitwarpur and Ranti, near the town Madhubani. Origin is quite unknown.

First craft village of the world – Jitwarpur(Madhhbani)

Themes

Paintings are mostly influenced by the religious motifs and beliefs of Indians. In the paintings one can see love for the nature and devotion for the Hindu deities. Central theme of all the paintings is love and fertility. It also sbows the aspect of the daily life of a woman or man of tbis region.People of Mithila is connected with nature which can be seen in these paintings . Painting of lotus, tree , bamboo , forest , snake , elephant, fish, tortoise ,parrot , peacock and many more can be seen. Artists used to depict the tales of religious characters/Gods such as Lord Krishna, lord shiva, lord Rama , goddess kali sita andany more. Few paintings also showcased the scenes from the royal court proceedings from the time and the events.

Painting Technique

The essential materials to make the painting are a cloth on which the painting will be made or a handmade paper. Preferably a thick sheet of A3 size (handmade papers are now not in so much use). Nib pen is needed which should be very thin.Other than this more tools such as fingers, twigs , Brushes , matchstics are used. Pencil, eraser and a ruler are must in use.Talking about the colors in anicient time natural dyes i,e,. pigments of flowers and fruits , plant leaves are used as colouring material. But now- a-days natural colours are in less use.For cloth fabric colors are used else paster color can be used.Yellow, orange , Red, Blue and green are called natural colors. Where as additional colors are lemon yellow, mustard yellow, orange red, sky blue, navy , purple , brown , ochra and light green. For silk cloth acrylic color is used.

Ways of painting

1. Kachni uses delicate fine lines to fill the painting and not much color is used. It is also known as Kayastha style of painting. It is the line art. Mainly black and brilliant red colors are used to make the Kachni style paintings. It depicts the fertility and life.

2. Bharni basically means shading/ filling. It uses solid colors to shade and fill the pictures. It uses black outlines filled with vibrant color.

Characteristics

1. The detailing of the painting is very fine . Thats why it takes a lot of patience while making.

2.Human figures have faces that are naive and almost birdlike and pointed noses in contrast to the sophistication of the detailing.

3. Contrast is used and more care about the pattern.

4. Prominant outlines and borders in every painting is very much essential.

5. Creatures in the painting have bulging fish like eyes.

6.Every painting show harmonized appeareance. You won’t be able to find a minutest empty space . If there was any gap left , artists used to fill the void by depicting dazzling flowers, birds,geometric patterns and animals. This is the uniqueness of this painting.

Types

There are 49 types of painting style in which Godhna style is the style in which cow dung base background and thin outlining are used.

Tatto style depicted the stories of king, Moon ,sun and Rahu.

Tantric style depicted the colors and descriptions in tantric texts.

The highly symbolic paintings are used KOHBAR . In Mithila the walls of the houses were used to be decorated with various eye-catching dedigns on the ocassion of marriages and other festivals. But now this way of celebration has restricted to some parts only. Kohbar is the style of painting which is also painted on wall at the bride’s home . It is also known as Bridal Chamber where couples spent the first few days of their married life. In this painting the devine couples like Shiva- Parvati, Ram-Sita, Krishna-Radha are made . Sun and moon with things related with the marraige of Mithila is also made. It is said that all these give blessings to the new couple.

Paintings have several stories and purpose which the artists depicted very smoothly .

The painting is the kit of survival of the artists here. Many artists are also very famous internationally and their work are making India proud all over the world. The evolution of the Mithila painting tells the story of the flavours of the passion and Culture . The people are preserving their customs and blessings of their forefathers in a very magniciant way.They deserve all the happiness amd succesess of the life.