ART 》 Madhubani art

Six yards of connoisseur folk art, Madhubani

Touch of ancient beauty, a small town were colorful artists are born, in Madhubani district in the Indian state of Bihar, Madhubani. The word "Madhuban" means "forest of honey" from which Madhubani is derived. Madhubani art is also known by the name 'Mithila art', Madhubani painting/Mithila painting was traditionally created by the women of the Brahman, Dusadh and Kayastha communities in Mithila region in India and it is named after Madhubani district of Bihar which is where it originated, this painting as a form of wall art was practiced widely throughout the region. Madhubani painting being accorded the coveted GI(Geographical Indication) status.
sarees are my passion Madhubani Print Art

Madhubani paintings figures featuring bulging fish-like eyes, pointed noses and prominently outlined. If there’s a border, it is embellished with geometric and floral patterns, and one can see rarely any blank spaces in these paintings. Motifs of gods such as Buddha, hindu deities like Goddess Kali, Lord ecstatic Ganesha, Lord Radha Krishna, Lord Shiva, Lord Ram, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Lakshmi(Goddess of wealth), Lord Hanuman, Lord Sita, Lord Vishnu and other general motifs sun, snakes, moon, tree, elephant, fish, parrot, turtle, bamboo, lotus, mermaid, lion, royal horses, chariot are very commonly seen motifs in this marvellous art. Madhubani/Maithili painting the themes narrated from Hindu deities like Saraswati, Lakshmi, Krishna, Rama, Shiva and Durga, few nature gifted themes of sun, moon and geometric patterns can also be seen in these paintings that often symbolize devotion, love, valour, prosperity fertility, also depicting scenes of royal courtyard, scenes of Indian wedding rituals,religious rituals and different cultural events such as festivals, from mythology like Ramayana.

Generally brush made for Madhubani paintings were made from bamboo stick, cotton wrapped around the stick.Tools required to do Madhubani Painting are cotton fabric, canvas, brushes, gifted fingers, twigs, nib-pens and matchsticks using natural dyes and pigments.No shading in the application of colors. Colors used white color is obtained by rice powder, green from the leaves of the wood apple tree, reddish colour from rose extracts and pomegranate, yellow from turmeric extract, blue from indigo, orange from palasha flowers, charcoal by adding soot to cow dung for black and of course my favorite yellow from turmeric bark.

Five distinctive styles of Madhubani art namely:

Bharni
Katchni
Tantrik
Godna
Kohbar

I wonder how lucky these Madhubani motifs are, they travel across the globe in varies products, I'm very delighted to share few products which I seen in one of the exhibition, such as Silk saree borders, Madhubani handpainted tray, Madhubani coasters, Madhubani photoframes, Madhubani handpainted Kurti, Madhubani Dupatta, Handpainted madhubani keepsake boxes, Madhubani painted wooden tissue Box, Madhubani Design hand painted ladies purse, Madhubani print umbrella, table linens, napkin rings, Madhubani stole, Madhubani painted multi utility gift box/spice box, greeting cards, tussar silk tie crafted with Madhubani art, Madhubani pankhi and also used in Madhubani paintings as home decor on walls and of most importantly lamps and so on.

Recent development of Madhubani art, artist are painting on paper and canvas originated among the villages around Madhubani.It's a true blessing wearing Madhubani art sarees during holi, Durga Puja and arts festivals. In Today's world Madhubani art has made its landmark, this tremendous art is not only loved by Indians, art lovers across the globe have appreciated, countries like Australia, Russia, USA and UK.