Mithila
painting in India has been practiced from immemorial times. Also known as
Madhubani painting, this is an essential part of Indian folk paintings. The
painting is named after the village Madhubani, in Mithila region, Bihar. Even
Vedas, puranas and tantra make several references to this ancient art form.
These paintings exhibit the vivacious expressions of the Mithila women. Mithila
paintings are soaked in colors of joy. These blissful paintings echo the
passion of adorning the abodes. Madhubani painting is an ingenious expression
tool for daily lives and events. Conventionally done on newly plastered mud
wall of huts; these paintings reached to hand-made paper, cloth and canvas.
Today, you can find Madhubani paintings online also.
History
of Milthila Painting in India
The
history of Mithila painting dawned with the love for interior decoration in human
beings. For centuries women have bedecked their dwellings with elaborate
symbolic paintings. It is said that Mithla painting in India began when king
Janak, ruler of Mithila asked people to paint their homes when his daughter
Sita was getting married to Lord Ram. This is the reason for knowing these
paintings as Maithili, Godhna and Chitra figure paintings also. Ultimately this
art form reached the neighboring districts of Madhubani like Bacchi, Rasidpur,
Ranti, Jetwarpur, Rajangarh, etc.
Themes
of Milthila Painting
Themes
of Mithila painting in India mainly depict Hindu Mythology and Maithili tantrik
legends and traditions. Natural objects like sun, moon, and religious plants
like tulsi are also extensively painted. Scenes from royal courts, social events,
festivals etc. are also portrayed. No empty space is usually left. Paintings of
animals, birds, flowers and even geometric designs fill the gaps. The murals
are unique in their rich and vigorous compositions and pulsating colors. Highly
stylized and geometrical, Madhubani paintings are unwrapped astrological charts
and a depot of the intelligence of ages.
Main
Attributes of Mithila Painting in India
Some
chief attributes of Madhubani paintings include ornate floral patterns, double
line border, abstract-like figures of deities, bold colors, bulging eyes and a
jolting nose of faces of the figures. These paintings need cow dung and mud
paste applied to walls and floors for a faultless background to draw pictures
with vegetable colors and rice paste.
In
Mithila of classic fame, the women artists use affluent earth colors (red,
indigo, yellow and green) with goat’s milk base in their expressive paintings.
They are proposed for their house goddess room and in the ‘Kohbar’ (the inner
most hall of the house where the newly wedded couple begins married life). Most
fundamental materials (gum, fine bamboo silvers wrapped in cotton) are used to
accomplish these magnificently articulate paintings. There are three styles of
this painting-Brahmin style, Tatoo style and Kshatriya style.
Symbolism
in Mithila Paintings
Most
figures depicted in Mithila paintings hold a symbolic meaning which adds
fascination to these paintings. Fishes depict fruitfulness, good luck and
procreation; peacocks represent romanticism while serpents are symbol of
heavenly protectors.
Since
1966, Mithila paintings have been developed into a marketable product.
Conventionally Madhubani paintings were done only by females; today numerous
men have also joined this art. The bucolic folk of Mithila have found a market
for their celebratory art, with the help and benefaction of the All India
Handicrafts Board and Handicrafts Handloom Export Corporation of India. Mithila
painting in India is now moved to paper from walls. This called for a change in
paints from goat’s milk base with aboriginal pigments to commercial colors, but
the same painting procedure was retained by applying the paint with a little
stick worn at the end like a cotton swab. Today, Madhubani or Mithila paintings
are not only renowned in India but also throughout the globe.
