Madhubani painting is the folk art of Madhubani, Bihar.

1. Shalini Tiwari
Assistant Professor
Drawing & Painting
Km. Mayawati Govt. Girls PG College, Badalpur

2. Introduction
• Mithila is Bihar’s most mature and impressive cultural unit
and Madhubani is the heartland of Mithila . The tradition of
decorating walls and ceiling with murals, popularly known as
Mithila Painting or Madhubani Painting.
• The women folk decorates the outer and inner walls of their
houses on auspicious occasions or rituals.

3. Origin & Antiquity
• The origin of Madhubani Painting is unknown . It is said that in
Ramayana period king Janak invited artists from Bihar to decorate
his palace on the occasion of his daughter’s wedding.
• It is very ancient art . The mother teaches the art to her daughter,
For generations the skill has been passed on from mother to
daughter .

4. Characteristics
• Religious :
Madhubani Painting is related to Hindu religion. It has a
influence of Shiva, Parvati, Vishnu, Durga, Rama, Sita,
Radha, Krishna, Sun & Moon etc.
• Decorative and Symbolic designs
Madhubani Painting’s design contains various symbols of
prosperity such as Elephant, lion, fish, horse, turtle, parrot,
bamboo, flowers etc.

5. Pure and Bright colors
Only pure colors generally two or five colors – green, yellow,
red, black, blue are used in Madhubani painting. The use of
colors simplified the images.
Strange Figures
Distortion gives the figures fantastic strangeness. There are
some strange features such as nose in to the forehead, eye in the
profile, receding brows and staring eyes.

6. Madhubani Painting in present time
• Madhubani painting are practiced till date in the village of
Jitwarpur, Ranti, Rasidpur, Bacchi, Rajangarh of Madhubani .
• Madhubani artists Shanti Devi, Rajkumar Lal, Mahasundari Devi,
Rekha Das, Narayan Lal Das and Bharti Dayal are some famous
name, who are working in this field.
• Ministry of Textile, Government of India is working and starting
various schemes to encourage the Madhubani painting and cultural
art heritage of Bihar and state govt. of Bihar is cooperating very
well with central Govt.

7. • Madhubani Painting is not only for aesthetic purpose but also
spreading social awareness. In 2012, Shashthi Nath and his NGO,
Gram Vikas Parishad protected more than 100 trees being cut
down.
• Bharti Dayal’s 7 Madhubani paintings which are a combination
of traditional art with contemporary modern subjects are included
in the book “The new Bihar”. Her illustration for the book’s
cover includes a girl riding a bicycle symbolizing the ‘
Empowerment of women’ and the quest for education.
Social Awareness

8. • In present time there is a huge demand of various articles
with Madhubani motifs.
• It is not only a decorative art but has become a part of
contemporary art world . Modi presented Madhubani
painting by Bua Devi to Mayor of Hannover