Madhubani or Mithila Paintings

Madhubani or Mithila Paintings originated in Bihar, India.  These meticulously intricate traditional paintings are extremely beautiful art work.  These age old folk art is done to express happiness and the joys in the lives of people since a very long time.  Emerging from the villages, this art is said to be somewhere between 3000 – 2500 year old art that has been passing on from one generation to another.  This is an art that was usually done by the women of the house, either independently or together.  These forms of paintings find reference in epics like the Ramayana, the holy book of the Hindus (around 500 BC old).
Original Madhubani Painting done in traditional way

The Sun God
These exquisite and exotic paintings were originally created to decorate the mud walls of a house, and not over paper or any other material.   
Interestingly, during a massive earthquake in the 1934, touching a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter Scale, a British Officer, William G Archer, while assessing the damage, happened to discover Madhubani Art from the collapsed mud walls of a village in Bihar.  There just by chance he happened to see the marvelous paintings made on the collapsed walls of the huts which caught his fancy and interest. He soon began to study more on this, and eventually promoted this to Europe and of course, the rest is history.

The Tree of Life
Madhubani paintings were originally made with the help of sticks and twigs, sometimes with fingers to fill a part, and even quills.  Nowadays, fountain pen nibs, matchsticks or toothpicks serve the same purpose. As for colors, these paintings use natural dyes derived from flowers and leaves, charcoal and other elements of nature.  The theme of these paintings are usually of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, and also of nature. These were ritual paintings done to mark auspicious occasions like celebrations in the family, births, harvest and other festive times which perhaps demanded the pictorisation of the Gods as a mark of respect for granting them the good times.  These harmonious paintings were done to invoke good blessings from Gods, good luck and also bring peace and happiness within one’s soul. The main characteristic of these paintings is in its geometrical shapes and the fine fill-up of the entire area.
Original Madhubani Painting of India

Fish and Peacocks – Notice the fine strokes in the background.
Origin
Madhubani which literally translates to honey for Madhu and Bani stands for forests, or together to mean “honey laden forests”.   These paintings were originally done over freshly plastered mud walls of a cottage, both inside the house as well as on the external sides.  Being traditional in nature, Madhubani paintings were done by the women of the houses either together or individually, and so, there has never been a name associated with its origin.  Madhubani flowed from one generation to next and it is still continued in the same manner as it came to them. Eventually they began to be replaced over a special kind of paper, mixed with cotton.  Now, they are even created on cloth.
Original Madhubani Painting

Fish in Water
Each painting was created with the beauty of happiness inside one’s heart.  These were created in the villages, where farming was the main occupation. The farmers who were always under the heavy taxation policies, facing droughts and famines, mostly lived in extremely poor conditions.  However, despite all their hardships, they gave the world something so enriching and wonderful. In fact, Madhubani was not created as an art form, but just to express their events of life, joyous moments, and celebrations and so on.  These people who could associate their life with art, so beautifully, and could create art simply out of passion and pureness, is really incredible. Their art defied the harshness of poverty and other difficult life conditions. Like a river of hope, it sprung in their hearts, and gave us such an amazing heritage.  An art that was born in the heart of simple people and got poured like infectious love and peace. Madhubani reaches out to every sensitive eye that can understand the depth and beauty of this divinely intricate art.
Original Madhubani Painting of India

Birds Madhubani Painting
Paintings were mainly done of nature and gods and goddesses.  The images depicted were mainly from mythological epics and their scenes telling an entire story or a chapter, and otherwise just images of gods and goddesses.  At other times, inspiration was nature – animals, rivers, fish and trees and so forth. There is no preliminary sketching or drafting in these paintings whatsoever.  It is done directly on the special paper as a final stroke with the natural paints. Women were also inspired by nature, the Sun, the Moon and religious plants, like the Holy Basil, weddings of gods and goddesses, trees, birds, fish and such were the main themes of the paintings.  Their simple lives, created an art so beautiful which appears so full of life and vigor. Extremely intricate works make them immensely beautiful and leave us spell bound in amazement.
Original Madhubani Painting from India

Fish Madhubani Painting
Paintings take a great deal of time to do as the nib needs to be dipped in the paint after every two or three strokes.  It takes as long as 15-20 days or more to complete a single Madhubani. The larger the size and the more detailed the work, the more exquisite the painting.   Also at the same time, it may be a small sized artwork, and be more expensive than a larger sized painting as the costs are related to the amount of work done and not just the size of the painting.

 

Original Madhubani painting from India

Fish Madhubani Painting
Madhubani is not done with any pre thought it seems.  Neither is any thought given to drawing any outline or drafting.  It just flows through the artist. The painter uses the dips and starts with drawing and eventually very intricate patterns and lines are done in close proximity to fill up the area.  The painting is never colored in full coverage but is lined in a pattern form to give the impression of the shape of the drawing. So, in most cases, there is no gap in the paintings.  Sometimes, even as the borders are patterned and gives the image of fullness.
Original Madhubani Painting from India

The Tree Madhubani Painting

 

 

Process
The ink and all its elements is purely organic.  There is no chemical involved. Dyes are made from nature to depict nature!  So for instance, the color black is obtained from the side of the iron woks or pans that face fire used for cooking, or soot.  Please remember that we are talking of arts that evolved 3000 years ago, or more. Greens come from leaves boiled to make a thick paste, and kept inside the soil for a month to mature.  Once out, they are then mixed with tree saps to create the bright dark color effects. Different flowers are used to in the same process to create the effects, like the marigold for orange, roses for reds and so on.  The paper is a special paper which is made from 75% paper and 25% cotton.
Original Madhubani Painting of India

The Tree – Madhubani Painting. The filling up the background is the main character of this type of painting.
In these traditional paintings, there would not be any paintings done to reflect sadness or misery!  Each work reveres with life, positive energy and vibes that spread happiness and brings in peace to the eyes that see them.  Also, they were never meant to be painted to sell. Each house decorated its mud walls and floors with these paintings. It is said once created and kept in a house, these bring in happiness and peace to the house that it is kept.
Amazing fact :  Cow dung mixed with water is smeared on the special paper mixed with cotton and left to dry before the painting process starts!! Indian cows are revered in the Hindu culture, since the Aryans came in to India around 1600- 1800 BCE.  Then, and even now, cows are considered divine in the Hindu culture as they gave life to their children in form of milk, and other milk related products, which formed the main diet since these farmers were mostly vegetarian. The cows also helped the Aryans who were mainly pursued agriculture, with their farming and travel from one part to another to sell their produce.  Cow dung cakes were made to dry and were used as fuel. Being so overall helpful, and gentle these cows were given special status and respect. They were given the status of a mother, who looks after her children in all possible manners. Cows were considered as wealth and more cows a family possessed, the more respect they gained from their fellow beings.

 

Indian Cow dung was believed to have antibacterial properties, and the mud houses were smeared with cow dung coating first and when dry, were painted with the natural dyes.  The dung gave the color of the brown hue over mud walls which made the impressions on the wall more attractive to look at. Since then, a coating of cow dung mixed with water is first applied on the special paper.  This is also done to make the paper free from bacteria and also save it from being eaten by moths and other bugs. This also gives it a yellowish hue on which the blacks and other colors come out more prominent and look brilliant.  Also, since every bit of the paper is mostly used to paint, there is no space left unpainted unless the design or pattern demands space gaps.
Nowadays, you can get Madhubani paintings done in the original traditional process as above, and also just with the natural dyes on the paper.
Ancient Paintings of India

Intricate strokes creates the Madhubani Magic
Once the special paper is dry, the artist starts putting his or her imagination on paper.  Colors are derived from flowers, so for red, red rose petals and other red flowers are boiled together to form a thick paste.  To this is mixed tree sap, and then stored in the soil, for about a month when they are dug out, and again mixed with tree sap to apply on the paper.  Strokes are made diligently, and the surrounding is covered. Madhubani paintings take a great deal of time to complete as the nib needs to be dipped in the paint after every two or three strokes.  It takes as long as 15-20 days to complete a Madhubani. The larger the size and the more detailed the work, the more exquisite the painting. It may be a small sized card or a bookmark, but the costs are related to the amount of work done and not just the size of the painting.  
Indian Paintings

Madhubani at its best – Intricate and Fineness
Nowadays, the artists also create Paper Mache products made out of the paper used for Madhubani paintings.  The mix of cotton and paper are soaked and mixed together and dried in the shape of dolls, bowls, decorative products, animals like cows, tortoises etc to beautify homes.  Needless to say they look cute and very beautiful indeed !
Indian Handmade Toys

Cute Handmade Toys made out of paper mache in Madhubani style
About the Artist

Mamta Devi is a 37 year old National Award Winner Madhubani artist and has been working on these paintings since she was 11 years old.  This is a family tradition, where people make such paintings not for a commercial purpose but just for their happiness and satisfaction.  Seeing the art thrive in her family, she decided to pursue this on a serious note. This fantastic and beautifully breathtaking art has traveled for 5 generations in her family, and now she is happy to create happiness with her art, and conduct workshops to show others how to re-create and reconnect this age old tradition.   
Hailing from Jituwarpur Village, in Madhubani District, Bihar in Central India, Mamta Devi claims that her art is inspired by nature, Mother Earth and her instincts.  There is no prior sketching or thinking involved. When she holds her nib dipped in ink, it flows through her. Each painting is painstakingly done, as the nib is dipped each time for just two or three strokes.
Mamta Devi is also a mother to four children, and lives with her husband in the heart of India, New Delhi.

 

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For further queries or information, please feel free to reach us at shiuli@irakoi.com

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