Madhubani paintings are the traditional paintings of India that originated in the place named Madhubani in the Indian state of Bihar. Madhubani means forest of honey. Usually the themes of the Madhubani paintings are the Hindu deities like Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Sometimes other themes are also drawn like floral patterns, animals and birds. The characteristics of Madhubani paintings are that it would not have any empty space and the spaces would be filled up with some type of art or other.

The art of drawing this type of work dates back to the time of Ramayana. It is said that the Madhubani paintings adored the walls of the palace where the wedding of Sita and Rama took place. This is painted on walls of the pooja rooms in many houses. The paint used is obtained from natural substances. For black color, cow dung and mud paste are used. The rice paste is used to get the floral patterns and the vegetable colors are used to get the brilliant and colorful effect. The sandalwood and kusam flower extract for red color, indigo for blue color, wood apple tree for green color and rice powder for white color and palasha flower extract for orange color are used.

There are three styles of Madhubani paintings namely Brahmin style, Tatoo style and Kshatriya style. These are painted with bamboo stick tied with cotton to form the brush. It is painted on almost any base cloth or canvas or paper or walls. Handmade paper is preferred. You need trace paper, fabric colors if you are drawing on cloth or poster color if you are drawing on paper and black color outliner. If you choose colorful designs they will look more traditional. Simple and clear patterns will attract everyone. Theme based sketch is good. Those who have creative thoughts can do it in a perfect way. The borders need special attention to make it unique.

The Madhubani paintings reflect the life of people in India and there are paintings for all special occasions like wedding, Holi, Pooja, child birth, etc. Their geometrical patterns are eye catching. When the artist named Jagdamba Devi living in the village near Madhubani received award from the president of India in 1970 this art became very famous and received worldly recognition. The artist Mahasundari Devi received Padma Shri award in 2011 for her talent in Madhubani paintings.

Women in the villages around Madhubani and in Mithila are doing this type of paintings. There is no restriction to the theme of this art. These are two-dimensional imagery that makes use of natural colors. Though natural colors are used traditionally poster colors and fabric colors are also used in modern paintings. To get reddish brown color ochre is used and for obtaining black, lampblack is used.

The Madhubani painting is a traditional Indian art which has close lines drawn parallel and neatly with the help of cotton brush. In linear type of paintings, colors are not applied and only outlines are drawn. The outlines usually have double lines to make it more prominent and the gap in between them is filled with a particular pattern like tiny lines or crosses. Many exhibitions are conducted with the Madhubani paintings in India and abroad as they are becoming more and more popular among people.

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On December 13, 2011lView All Articles

Suhaina Mazhar is a freelance content writer and blogger with five years experience in content writing. http://sumazla.blogspot.com is her blog.

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Madhubani Paintings , indian paintings , paintings of madhubani