Madhubani Painting - folk painting of 'Bihar'

'Madhubani' or 'Mithila' painting is a folk art form of Bihar State in India.'Madhubani' literally means ''Forest ('Ban') of Honey('Madhu')".The origin of this art form is said to be set during the 'Ramayan era' that dates back to 7400BC approx. Its popularly believed that King Janaka of Mithila hired artists to adorn the walls on the auspicious occasion of his daughter Sita's marriage to Lord Ram.Since then this folk art has been an integral part of auspicious occasion as marriages in Bihar.





Originally practiced to adorn the walls, this art form has now crossed boundaries and is currently illustrated in various medias and background as paper, clothes and canvases.Madhubani Painting took a contemporary form in the 1960s and artists were encouraged to portray their inherent skills at global level.


My interest in exploring the regional art forms of India dates back to my growing up years in various states of India namely West Bengal, Bihar , Gujarat , Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.Folk arts have always intrigued me and I consider self to be privileged enough to have been exposed to various multi cultural and multi lingual states of India.


In addition to travelling , my formal education in Design , particularly in Architecture and later Industrial Design, brought me closer to the nuances of ethnic and contemporary art /design forms of India.I have been an avid painter since school days and the passion continues to grow.


And here I take pleasure to portray my attempts to recreate this art form.