Bihar’s Madhubani Art Decorates Its Environment

The antiquity of this land and its religious histories have made the people of Bihar deeply religious. This is constantly reflected in their arts, crafts and textiles.

Women are particularly strong in presenting their creative expressions through the most common of skills.

The Ram Janaki temple in Madhubani is famed for its painted walls of scenes from the Ramayana.

They are hand painted by the local community of Madhubani painters. A group of 6 painters were involved in this work.

Intricate works of Madhubani art can be seen on all the pillars and walls of the temple.

Every pillar and wall inside the temple has painted chapters from the Ramayana

This scene depicts the final war between Rama and Ravana.

The ultimate death of Ravana at the hands of Lord Rama is a part of the Yuddha kanda, the section in the Ramayana describing the battle.

The scene on the wall depicts the marriage of Ram and Sita, taken from Bala kanda section of the Ramayana which tells of their wedding.

Vakil Jha, the priest of the Ram Janaki temple, collects offerings from visiting devotees.

The praying area, where the idol is kept is at the centre of the temple is surrounded by a boundary wall.

Except for this, every wall and pillar is painted with scenes from the Ramayana story.

Just outside the temple a big pond serves as a community water body for various purposes like bathing, washing clothes and cleaning kitchen utensils.

Madhubani artists have painted the walls surrounding the pond.

The old Naulakha palacewas a royal Brahmin abode situated in the town of Rajnagar in Madhubani. The palace portico has arches standing on four elephants.

This is considered one of the more unique designs reflecting the architectural brilliance of the feudal era.

The Naulakha Palace in Madhubani has painted roofs and beautiful arches inside the mail hall or durbar.

The walls of Naulakha palace reflect its architectural grandeur and artistic skill.

The Naulakha Palace in Madhubani is a reminder of classical art of earlier times.

Government schools in Madhubani have painted the outside walls in Madhubani style.

Boundary walls of many government offices are painted in the Madhubani style.

It helps to avoid indiscriminate wall writing and defacement.

Madhubani art on the wall of the community painting centre in Jitwarpur, Madhubani.

The community workplace serves as training centre for new artists to work.

Remant Kumar Mishra with his father Baulal Mishra and mother Bhagwan Devi in their family home.

The family converted the cowshed into an art gallery. The wall behind is painted by the family.

A figure of Lord Krishna as part of mural art merges naturally with a home.

A painted toilet in one of the artist’s homes.

Not only mud and bamboo houses but also many firmly built houses have been adorned with Madhubani paintings.

Many houses in the village, mostly made of mud and bamboo, are painted in the Madhubani style by local artists.

No matter how simple the dwelling, the artist adds some decorative element to it.

A small touch of art provides an aesthetic experience in Madhubani despite low cost building materials used to make the shed.

Even the poorest of structures where cow dung cakes are still used as cooking fuel, a touch of unconscious art enlivens their facades.

Walls are painted and then left to their fate.

Most of the houses belong to the artists themselves. They paint them as a gesture to promote their traditional work among the visitors to their locality.

Random and whimsical wall art is a matter of spontaneous creativity.

An example of how the interior of a simple home can be made lively and beautiful with Madhubani art done by someone in the family.

A local artist from the village painted the front wall of his house for all to enjoy.

Small areas of whimsicality adds to the charm of the artist’s home in Madhubani.

Many children from artist families learn Madhubani painting at an early age.

They use the walls of their homes as their early stage canvases. A quirky bee and fish design were painted by children.

A small unfinished painting in a humble dwelling place can suddenly surprise and charm a visitor in Madhubani.

The sun god is worshipped in Madhubani and also painted outside many houses by community artists.

The better known, multi-coloured painting commonly called under the general name of Madhubani is done by people from the Brahmin and Kayastha upper castes.

Chandarakala Devi, Madhubani artist, works on fabric in unusual surroundings.

Mahanava Devi can be seen painting with a black nib pen.

Ranjit Paswan, her son, is also a Godna artist who follows the same style as his mother.

The main characteristics of the Paswan family paintings are double line borders, very fine decorative patterns, birds and the tree of life, which are largely done in black ink on a cow dung smeared base.

Painted walls show love and pride in traditions and not in décor.

The writing above the art work declares this tiny cottage to be the home of the late Madhubani artist Chano Devi, National Award winner of 2007. It even gives the mobile phone number of a relative.

Read more about madhubani art here:
-Madhubani: From personal to public spaces  
-The process
-The styles and possibilities of Madhubani art