India: It has been a land of creativity and culture since ages. Even when the country was slaved to various rulers, it never lost its charm and affection towards art and culture. As a result, in today’s technologically driven world, India stands strong on its roots of historic values and has successfully protected its ancient art forms. There are multiple kinds of art forms which had their birth on the land of this nation. However, if we come to talk about the most celebrated forms of Indian paintings then, Madhubani paintings would top the list.
Just to give you a brief about its origin and history, it is the most renowned art and is practiced in Mithila which is currently a place located in the state of Bihar. The uniqueness of this painting style rests in the usage of natural dyes and pigments which are used with fingers, matchsticks, twigs and brushes to create beautiful eye-catching geometric patterns. However, there are certain unheard and unknown things about this distinctive style of Indian paintings and this blog is going to reveal them.
- Origin:
Surely Madhubani paintings were born in the soil of Mithila region but when? This painting style originated in the time of famous “Sita Kalyan”. As per the fables, this art form originated in the era of the Ramayana on the prosperous occasion of Sita’s wedding her father, Raja Janaka, had commanded a large group of artists to decorate the entire kingdom with unique art. This is one of the reasons why this form is most prevalent on walls and other structural edifices. - Entirely unique style of painting:
The creation of this form of painting is entirely from natural sources like organic colours, mud and cow dung. Artists use these to give a better texture to the walls. The colours are drawn from various natural sources like flowers, spices and other herbal items. In the previous times, women of the house used to create this famous Indian paintings style on the walls of their homes. With the flow of time, this style can be witnessed on various other articles like canvas, cushions, cloths and even bangles. As people are going more and more creative they are utilising this art across various mediums. - Reducing deforestation:
It is a bit hard to believe that how a painting could reduce deforestation? Well, this painting has done the wonder. As this genre of Indian paintings involves religious icons and figures, artists used these to paint trees. As the paintings on trees represents figures of Hindu deities, people refrain from chopping them off. This was a great idea as it doesn’t just help in deforestation but makes the trees look extremely beautiful. - No sketch:
Most of the people believe that in order to create an extravagant painting, drawing a sketch is mandatory. However, this myth is disregarded by Madhubani paintings. It is a speciality of this painting style that they are created without the usage of any sketches. Most certainly bold hues are used in order to draw geometric designs and other eye-catching designs, but the usage of a rough draft isn’t there. This is one main attribute which differentiates these painting styles from others in the world of art. - Exclusive galleries dedicated to this beautiful art form:
If we have a glance from the worldwide recognition perspective then this painting style has its fair share of fame and popularity. There are numerous galleries which are exclusively dedicated towards Madhubani paintings. In various parts of the Indian sub-continent, multiple non-profit organisations are operating to promote the artists of Madhubani paintings and support them. If we talk about the international acknowledgement then the land of technology and innovation, Japan, Proudly holds ‘Mithila Museum’ which is home to more than 15,000 unique and exquisite Madhubani paintings.
There is no denial to the fact that Madhubani is one of the most celebrated and recognised form of famous Indian paintings. This famous art form has crossed the conventional mediums of art to spread its wings across other domains. Walls, canvas, paper, bangles and even utensils, the beauty of this art can be witnessed on each and every thing. The people of Mithila region hold this art form extremely close to them and their passion towards paintings can be observed in the magnificent pieces created by them.