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Crafts / Madhubani

Madhubani

State
Bihar
Material
Natural pigment · Paper
Rarity
Popular

Walls that tell stories, with no space left empty

About

Dense, colourful paintings of gods, animals and nature with double-line outlines, made first on the walls of Mithila homes.

Madhubani, also called Mithila painting, is a painting tradition of the Mithila region, which lies in northern Bihar and extends into Nepal. It is named after Madhubani district, where it is most actively made today. The paintings are built from bold outlines, flat colour and dense patterns, and almost no space is left empty: gaps are filled with flowers, fish, birds, leaves or geometric motifs.

Traditionally the painters are women. The skill is passed from mother to daughter and was practised on the freshly plastered mud walls and floors of village homes, especially for weddings, births and festivals. Today the same artists, and a growing number of men, also paint on handmade paper, cloth and canvas, and several workshops and institutions in Madhubani and Darbhanga district train new painters.

The paintings carry meaning as well as decoration. Fish, parrots, peacocks, lotus, bamboo, the sun and moon, and the sacred tulsi plant are painted as signs of fertility, love, prosperity and auspiciousness, and gods and scenes from the epics appear next to scenes of village life.

How it’s made

Traditional Madhubani begins with a surface. On a wall, the mud plaster is smoothed and left to dry; on paper, painters use handmade paper, and on cloth, a plain cotton piece. The artist usually draws the outline directly, often with a bamboo twig, a nib pen or even a finger, without a pencil sketch. Double lines are common for borders and figures.

Colour is added next. The classic palette is made from things at hand: rice paste for white, turmeric for yellow, lampblack for black, indigo for blue, red clay or vermilion for red, and plant or flower extracts for orange and green. Gum arabic or goat's milk was used as the binder, gum arabic on paper and goat's milk on walls. Today many painters also use ready-made poster or acrylic colours, which are cheaper and brighter.

What gives each painting its look is how it is filled. In the bharni style, figures are filled in solid colour. In kachni, fine lines and hatching do the work and colour is kept light. Tantrik paintings depict deities and ritual diagrams, godna takes its patterns from tattoo designs, and kohbar paintings are made for weddings. The last step is to fill the empty gaps with small flowers, leaves, fish and birds, and to draw a decorative border around the whole picture.

Key features

  • Bold outlines, often a double line, with flat colour
  • Almost no empty space: gaps filled with flowers, fish, birds, geometric patterns
  • Five recognised styles: Bharni, Kachni, Tantrik, Godna and Kohbar
  • Traditionally painted by women on mud walls and floors for weddings and festivals
  • Drawn with twigs, bamboo slivers, nib pens and fingers rather than fine brushes
  • Natural colours: rice paste, turmeric, lampblack, indigo, red clay
  • Now painted on handmade paper, cloth and canvas as well as walls

History

Painting on the walls and floors of the home is an old domestic ritual in Mithila. Local tradition says that King Janaka of Mithila had the town painted for the wedding of his daughter Sita; this is a story told in the region, not a dated record. What is certain is that painting was linked to rites such as marriage, and that a special painting, the kohbar, was made on the wall of the room where a newly married couple would spend their first nights.

Because these paintings were made on mud walls inside homes, they were little known outside the region. They came to wider notice in the twentieth century: after the 1934 earthquake in Bihar, a British officer posted at Madhubani, William G. Archer, saw and photographed painted walls in damaged houses and wrote about them.

The big change came in the 1960s, when hunger and drought hit the region and the government's handicrafts board encouraged village women to put their paintings on paper so that they could be sold. Painting on paper, and later on cloth, made Madhubani a source of income and carried it to galleries and shops across India and abroad. The painting also carries a Geographical Indication (GI) registration. Over time painters from several castes and communities have taken part, bringing their own subjects such as local legends, daily life and village scenes next to the older ritual themes.

Facts

  • 5 styles Five traditional styles. Mithila painting is usually described through five styles: Bharni, Kachni, Tantrik, Godna and Kohbar. Each uses line and colour differently.
  • Wall to paper From mud walls to paper. The art started on plastered walls and floors in the home. Painting on paper and cloth for sale became common from the 1960s.
  • Kohbar The wedding-chamber painting. A kohbar is painted in the room where a newly married couple stay. Its shapes and symbols are connected with fertility and a happy married life.
  • Fingers & twigs Simple tools. Painters draw with bamboo slivers, twigs, matchsticks, nib pens, rags and even their fingers. There is no tradition of a fine pointed brush.

Market

Sold as paintings, sarees and gifts

Madhubani paintings are sold as framed works on handmade paper, as hand-painted sarees, dupattas and wall hangings, and as smaller items such as cards and bookmarks. Because the style is easy to print, machine-printed copies are common. Hand-painted work shows small irregularities in the line and the fill; printed copies are uniform and flat.

Sustainability

Natural colours, local materials

Traditional colours come from rice, turmeric, soot, clay and plants, and the brushes are bamboo and twigs, so the traditional kit is low-waste. Many artists today buy ready-made colours for convenience; choosing handmade paper and plant-based colours keeps the practice close to its roots.

Products

  • Paintings on handmade paper: The most common form today, made in all five styles
  • Hand-painted sarees and dupattas: Painted on cotton or silk with fabric colours
  • Wall hangings: Painted on cloth or board for the home
  • Greeting cards and bookmarks: Small paper pieces, a popular beginner format
  • Painted walls: Murals made for weddings and festivals, still done in many homes

Words to know

  • Kohbar: The painting on the wall of a wedding chamber; also the name of one of the five styles.
  • Bharni: A style in which outlined figures are filled with solid, bright colour.
  • Kachni: A style of fine lines and hatching, with little colour.
  • Tantrik: A style of ritual paintings of deities and sacred diagrams.
  • Godna: A style based on tattoo patterns, with simple lines and dots.
  • Aripan: Ritual floor drawing made with rice paste, a related Mithila art.
  • Mithila: The cultural region in northern Bihar and eastern Nepal where the painting comes from.

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