Madhubani!!!

Madhubani

Big eyes, painted on a big face, stared hard at me. I got scared! But, my mother smiled. We were in an art gallery and looking at paintings. Then, mom told me about Madhubani (Ma-dhoo-Ba-Nee), an interesting folk art of India, a south Asian country. It means 'forest of honey'. Long time back, when it started, only lady of the house used to do it, but now children also do it.

Mom told that Madhubani artists make use of agricultural products only. Ladies treat handmade paper with cow dung and dry it. “Cow dung?!” I wrinkled my nose. Mom explained that cow dung can be used in many creative ways. From the painting, I guessed that cow dung gives the paper a yellow tinge and make it thicker.
Even the brush is handmade! It’s made from a bamboo twig wrapped with a piece of cloth. Or the ends are frayed so that the fiber looks like a bundle of hair. Bamboo sticks are harder than the general painting brushes, so, Madhubani takes more effort. For patches, a cloth is tied to a twig, dipped in dye and pressed against the surface. This is called pihua (Pee-Hoo-aa).
I picked up the exhibition brochure from the counter and read about the sources of colours.

• BLACK is obtained by mixing soot with cowdung, or burning a cloth-piece on a lamp.
• YELLOW comes from turmeric, flower pollen, or lime and the milk of Banyan tree leaves.
• BLUE, from indigo plant.
• RED, from the Kusum flower juice, red sandalwood or bricks.
• GREEN, from the apple tree leaves or Seem plant.
• WHITE, from rice powder.
• ORANGE, from Palasha flowers.
• BROWN, from Peepal tree

So, there is no ONE medium. Colours are applied flat without shading. Madhubani art is either in bright colours or black ink. As modern artists use varnish to give shine to the painting, Madhubani artists use gum from the trees.
Subjects
Traditional themes are small images of Gods & Goddesses, stories from Hindu mythology and shapes of flowers, leaves, fruits, and animals. Lotus plant, bamboo grove, birds, fish etc, are drawn separately or in union. Agricultural animal life is also depicted.

Beginnings
Sam, the attendant at the gallery, also joined us. She told that this art began as cave paintings in Madhubani district (Bihar) of India long time back. Those natural dyes were very strong. They are still found on the walls of old caves. As civilization went up, walls and floors of mud houses began to be painted. Sam said that many beliefs are linked with Madhubani. It purifies the atmosphere. And, when the worshipped Goddess comes to the house every morning to bless family members, the beautiful walls make her happy.

Walls are also painted for celebrating festivals, birthdays and marriage ceremonies. Madhubani, also known as Mithila (Mee-Thee-Laa), is done in three ways – Bhitti Chitra (Bhee-tee Chee-tra) is wall painting, Aripana is floor painting, and Pata-Chitra is canvas painting. Chitra means ‘picture’.

Special Featrures
Aashima, my pen-friend from India, wrote to me that Madhubani is done in double outline. The gap between the lines is filled by cross or straight tiny lines. That must be time consuming! Also, there are hardly any empty spaces; pictures are fully detailed.

In Madhubani art, the methods used are simple, but it takes patience and hard-work. After knowing all this, when I looked at the big eyes on big face again, I didn’t get scared. I decided to make a Madhubani painting myself. So, I bought sketch pens, pencil and drawing sheets. Using the pencil I drew a peacock on paper. Then I gave it a double outline with a black ink pen gifted to me by grandpa. After adding details like feathers, eyes etc, I carefully filled in green, red, yellow and blue colours. It looked very neat and just like an original Madhubani painting!