Mithila or Madhubani paintings from Bihar ,India / Indigo Arts

Madhubani (or Mithila paintings), is a style of Indian paintings ,which is drill and skilled in mithila region of Indian subcontinent and Nepal. These paintings is done with a variety of tools , including fingers, twigs, brushed,nib-pens and matchsticks and using natural dyes and pigments .The color used in Madhubani paintings are usually derived from plants and other natural sources. These paintings are traditionally done by the women painters from mithila province. Since, Ancient times, women of Mithila have painted the walls and floors of their house with with beautiful art to celebrate occasion such as religious festivals, birth and sometimes marriage. The paintings on the walls are known as Bhitti chitra and paintings on the floor are known as Aripana.

What's Madhubani mean????

Madhubani is a town municipality and headquarter of Madhubani district . Madhubani is situated in the Indian state of Bihar. The word 'Madhuban' means ''Forest of honey" from which "Madhubani" is derived,but sometimes it's also known as "Madhu" +"Vaani" meaning  "Sweet voice/language".

History /origin -

The Madhubani paintings is said to be one the most famous art forms that originated from India .In the Treta Yuga, king Janaka was the ruler of Mithila , it's believed that on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Sita to lord Rama,he ordered to paint the walls of the kingdom through paintings . Madhubani paintings are often based on religious theme like the paintings of God such as lord Krishna and scene from the Ramayana era .

Discovery of paintings- 

In 1930,these paintings were not known to people that lived outside the Madhubani region,But in 1934, Bihar experienced a major earthquake and a British colonial officer of the Madhubani, William G. Archer, who admired Indian art and culture noticed these unique arts , were hanging on the damaged wall of Madhubani during his inspection ,he brought the Wall paintings to public attention-  later to become the south Asia curator at London's Victoria and Albert museum - was stunned by the beauty of the paintings and similarities to the work of the morden western artist like Klee,Miro and Picasso . 

Theme / special about Madhubani paintings- 

It is known for symbolise ritual content. These paintings often have characteristics like complex geometric patterns . Essentially ,the paintings are of religious motive. The central theme of all paintings is "Love and fertility". The drawing of the nature and Mythology are the adapted and versioned according to the style of each region ,as well as the individual artist. The most painted theme and design are the worshiping of the Hindu deities and episode of their scared writings , such as the episode of Radha and Krishna ,Rama,Shiva,Ganesh ,Laxmi Saraswati ,the monkey ,the sun ,the moon ,the plants of tulsi ,the Deep (it is a traditional lamp- made of soil ,a symbol of a happy life), wedding scenes and other social events. 

Popularity- 

India owes the worldwide popularity of Madhubani paintings to Japan , Germany, France and America in particular. The Mithila museum in Takamachi in Japan, exhibits some 900 paintings of different styles from Madhubani. The platform for Madhubani just got bigger . Manisha Mishra ,is participating in the annual international folk art market ,in Santa Fe in USA. She was part of the folk art festival last year as well as but this year her paintings has been chosen as the main theme image for the publicity of the 13-year- old art fair this time.

Paintings Madhubani is treated all around the world . The data provided on the export will blow your mind. There are 27 countries and territories,which actively import painting Madhubani from India. The combined value of total export is 3.35 USD million. USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and UAE are the  Top countries for painting Madhubani export from India.