Craft Story - Madhubani Painting

. The name comes from its place of origin is Madhubani district of Mithila region in Bihar. Hence also know as Mithila painting.
. It is a intricate geometrical painting inspired by lives of Gods & Goddess from ancient Hindu epics.
. Traditionally this art was done to decorate the mud floors & walls of the house using rice paste from hand or stick. Later this extended to paper, Canvas and fabrics. The painting is done using variety of tools like fingers, twigs, sticks or nib pens.
. Usually the paintings represents the grandeur of lives of ancient deities along with nature. Usually there is no space visible in the painting as its filled with Sun, Moon, wildlife, flora & fauna and geometric designs.
. There are various styles of the paintings like; Bharni, Katchni, Tantrik, Godna and Kohbar. First two are paintings of deties, while Godna is the traditional name of tattoo art and kohbar is a mandatory art form alive as ritual in most of the Bihari weddings.
. Traditionally the painting was passed on from generation to generation, mainly by women. But now it is also kept alive through some regionally located institutions.