Context: Recently, artists from Madhubani district of Bihar became famous for making masks with hand-painted Madhubani motifs(a decorative image or design, especially a repeated one forming a pattern).

About Madhubani Painting

• Madhubani art (or Mithila painting) is a style of Indian painting, practised in the Mithila region of Bihar.
• This painting is done with a variety of tools, including fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks and using natural dyes and pigments.
• It is characterized by its eye-catching geometrical patterns.
• It was traditionally created by the women of various communities in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent.
• This painting as a form of wall art was practised widely throughout the region; the more recent development of painting on paper and canvas mainly originated among the villages around Madhubani.
• It is these latter developments that led to the term “Madhubani art” being used alongside “Mithila Painting.”
• Renowed artist of Madhubani art are Sitadevi, Gitadevi, Mahasundaridevi,Karpuridevi.

Its features

• It uses two-dimensional imagery, and the colours used are derived from plants. Ochre, Lampblack and Red are used for reddish-brown and black, respectively.
• It mostly depicts people and their association with nature and scenes and deities from the ancient epics.
• Natural objects like the sun, the moon, and religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings.
• Generally, no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs.
• Madhubani art has five distinctive styles: Bharni, Kachni, Tantrik, Godna and Kohbar.
• This painting has also received a GI (Geographical Indication) status.

Themes of Madhubani Paintings

• The themes of these paintings are chiefly nature and mythological events. It revolves around Hindu deities like Krishna, Shiva, Lakshmi, Durga, Rama, and Saraswati.
• The nature-related themes revolve around the Sun, the Moon, and sacred plants such as basil. There are some paintings with themes based on court scenes and social events.
• If any unfilled space is left after painting the central theme, it is filled up with the motifs of animals, birds, flowers or geometric patterns.