Madubani Paintings : A National Pride

On a hot June as eight years old kid I visited along with my family members to
my native village Narayanpur in the Darbhanga District in Bihar in the eastern state of
India to attend a marriage in the family. Though it was my first visit to the village which
happened almost forty years ago, the memory is as fresh as ever. Our village had mostly
thatched houses and the walls were made of muds. Celebrations were in the air as a family
wedding was round the corner. Wedding songs were on. The walls and floors of the house
were first coated with cow dung and mud paste. When it dried up, I was quite stunned to
see my grand mother and other ladies and girls painting on the mud wall with a brush
made by bamboo twigs. The dried wall gave a perfect dark background to the bright
paintings done with natural colours.Some of them were engaged in painting the floor.
More surprisingly ,the floor paintings were done by the fingers only rather than by baboo
twigs. I knew quite well that my grand mother had never gone to any Art school or had
never formal schooling. I was also sure that she must not have gone to any art gallery
either or gone to any art auction but the free hand sketch and symmetry in the diagrams
made by her were truly remarkable and appriciable. I was deeply impressed by the talent
of my grand mother and other females of the village. Immediately I rushed to my father
to solve my inquisitiveness about this unique painting talent of my grand mother and
similarly talented women and girls.
My father immediately explained that this painting is called as “Mithila
paintings” – alternately called “ Madhubani paintings”. These paintings are kept alive by
women in the Mithila region from generation to generation as folk tradition. My grand
mother had learnt these paintings from her mother and had taught to her daughters as
well. Mithila, (in Bihar) is a scholastic and cultural center in India that traces its lineage
of arts from epic times. The land of Mithila is covered by the present districts of
Champaran, Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, parts
of Monghyr, Begusarai, Bhagalpur and Purnea. Madhubani is the heartland where the
paintings are more profuse than elsewhere. For the same reason it is popularly known as
“Madhubani paintings” Hindu women who live in of mithila maintain old traditions and
teach them to their daughters. They depict events from epic, mythology and traditional
designs on their floors and walls of their houses using crushed wet rice and natural colors.
 The people of Mithila stick to their centuries old custom and orthodox belief
that the land of Mithila or Mithilanchal is holier when compared to other parts of Bihar.
The belief possibly stems from the historic fact that Mithila was first to be brought under
the influence of Aryan culture. They are known to adhere to the minutest details in rituals
from birth to death according to the dictates of the Shastras (sacred texts on ritual
worship).
The tradition of painting walls for beautification of dwellings in Mithila is
believed to have survived from the epic period. Tulsidas gives a vivid account of Mithila
decorated for the marriage of Sita with Ram. Sita was daughter of Lord Janak, King of
Mithila , who had asked the village women artist to paint the walls of his place on the
auspicious occasion of marriage of her daughter with Lord Ram. Since then it is believed
that walls and floors are painted on all religious and social functions held in Mithila
region. These decorations are mythological murals, added with deities of Hindu
pantheon, besides regional flora and fauna.

The girl learns to play with the brush and colours at an early age which finally
culminates in the Kohbar (nupital room), which acquires great sanctity in the social life
of Mithila. All religious ceremonies relating to the marriage are performed in the
Kohbar.The deep (earthen lamp - a symbol of happy conjugal life) is kept burning in all
through for four days. The Kohbar is replete with paintings based on mythological, folk
themes, and tantric symbolism, The paintings in this chamber are designed to bless the
couple. The central theme of all paintings is love and fertility, though the approach may
vary. It can commence with the story of Sita’s marriage or Krishna - Radha episode with
the ecstatic circle in which he leads the gopis. Maithilis are Sakti worshippers with the
influence of Tantric rituals and so Siva-Sakti, Kali, Durga, Ravana and Hanuman also
appear in their murals. Symbols of fertility and prosperity like fish, parrot, elephant,
turtle, sun, moon, bamboo tree, lotus, etc are more prominent. The divine beings are
positioned centrally in the frame while their consorts or mounts or simply their symbols
and floral motifs forms the background. The human figures are mostly abstract and linear
in form, the animals are usually naturalistic and are invariably depicted in profile. It
begins with the flow of the brush without any preliminary sketching. Though natural
colours and twings have given way to brushes and artificial paints, the subject of
Madhubani paintings remain unchanged.

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
(where newly wed couple see each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure
and procreation.

In the beginning, home made natural colours were obtained from plant extracts like henna
leaves, flower, bougainvillea, neem, etc. These natural juices were mixed with resin from
banana leaves and ordinary gum in order to make the paint stick to the painting medium.
Home made paints, though cheap, was time consuming and produced less than the
requirement. The solution was to switch to the synthetic colours avaibale a plenty in the
market. Now colours come in powdered form, which are then mixed with goat’s milk.
However, black continues to be obtained from the soot deposits by the flame of diya,
dissolved in gum.

The colours are usually deep red, green, blue, black, light yellow, pink and lemon. They
created mood and hence played an important role. For instance, energy and passion find
expression through the use of red and yellow, as monochrome crashed over large surfaces
of the painting. Concentration of energy and the binding force is best reflected in red
while green governs the natural leaves and vegetation. Once the paints are ready, two
kinds of brushes are used - one for the tiny details made out of bamboo twigs and the
other for filling in the space which is prepared from a small piece of cloth attached to a
twig.
 The credit to bring the Madhubani paintings to the Knowledge of outside world
goes to Mr W.G.Archer, ICS, only in 1934, who while inspecting damage caused by a
massive earthquake in Madhubani district, “discovered” some of these paintings on the
shattered interior walls of local homes, never before seen by outsiders. Then from 1936
to 1940 he photographed some of these paintings in at least a dozen Mithila villages.
Archer eventually donated 48 of his photographs to the India Office Library, now part of
the British Library in London. Subsequently in order to commercialize the paintings the
painters were persuaded to paint it on papers as well. This transformation made the
paintings quite popular at national and international level as well. Since then the painting
medium has diversified. Wall paintings were transferred to hand made paper (which was
of poster size) and gradually it preyed for other mediums and motifs like greeting cards,
dress materials, sunmica etc. Madhubani paintings have helped the women, of mihila to
stand on their own feet. Some, like the late Sita Devi, received the Padma Shri in 1981.
others have been conferred national awards also.
At last, undisputedly Madhubani paintings can be termed as excellent paintings done by
untrained but talented artist. Most of them are uneducated but skilled local women who
are imparting this form of painting from one generation to another. Unlike other paintings
of India this painting has not got the state patronage but has flourished from year to year.
This has been wonderful educational tool for uneducated woman to impart training in
informal way to their daughter . Madhubani Painting which has kept our national pride
quite high and now it is our duty to protect this talent.