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Madhubani Painting of Mithila, Bihar
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Madhubani painting or Mithila painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state, India. Madhubani painting is characterized by line drawings filled in by bright colors and contrasts or patterns.
In Mithila, painting is normally done by women folk in three forms: painting on floor, painting on wall and painting on movable objects.
Wall paintings are multicolored, with three to five colors to depict the wall paintings. Pictures include those of Ram-Sita, Shiva Parvati and depcitions from daily life, with objects like fish, jackfruit, trees of fruits such as mango and pomegranate and birds like peacock. Attractive floral motifs act as borders and beautify the walls on three sides of the entrance.
Paintings on movable objects include those on clay models of pots, elephants, birds like Sama
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and chakeba; Raja Salhesa, bamboo structure, mat, fan and objects made of sikki. Decorative multicolored designs made on the faces of brides and the sumangalis also fall in this category.
Many of these paintings have great tantrik significance. Certain non-Vedic rites during the marriage ceremony, practiced exclusively by the women, like thakka-bakka, nayana-jogini etc., are directly related to the Mithila tantra.
The beauty of the Madhubani paintings is the exploration of the relationship between nature, culture and human psyche and the use of raw material that is available to them in plenty. Through these paintings, the women folk of Mithila express their innermost desires, dreams, aspirations, expectations and fantasies, in the social construct that they belong to.
It was in 1939 that William Archer, British government official & art historian, had seen them for himself & told the world about the paintings in 1945. In the 1960s, Pupul Jayakar, representing the concern of the Indian government, with her own deeply intuitive regard for people’s Art, introduced the painting on paper, with artist Bhaskar Kulkarni.
Fifty years on, despite some earlier mixed results, there are undeniable signs of progress. Men & women work together; the women are more confident. Communities learn from one another’s accomplishments. Disadvantaged communities now not only innovate stylistically, they are clearly influences in their own right. There are signs of training & of entrepreneurship among the Maithilis themselves.
The availability of thick handmade paper was not just a change in painting-surface. It implied portability, interested viewers & buyers; on one hand the freedom to innovate; on the other – recognition, professional dignity, earnings.
Images sourced from Google Search Engine with the term 'Madhubani Painting' |
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