“It is actually Mithila painting, though popularly known as Madhubani,” says Ambika Devi, national award-winning Madhubani painting artist.
She was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a three-day Madhubani painting workshop organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra and SPIC MACAY here on Tuesday.
Ms. Ambika says the painting is practised in the Mithila region of Bihar and the Nepal border. “It has been traditionally done in our family. My grandmother used to do it, my mother Leela Devi is a national award-winner, my sister is a State awardee, my brother does it... the entire family is involved in it.”
Mithila painting is intimately connected to the everyday life of the people, Ms. Ambika says. Be it monthly pujas, weddings or tonsuring rituals, nothing is complete without it. “In the olden days, women would not be allowed to venture out of homes. So, once they finished their household chores, they would paint the mud walls of homes for family functions and festivities. This was how houses were decked up then.”
The skills have been passed from generation to generation. “We start off by learning to draw on the ground using powdered raw rice. The monthly puja is incomplete without these figures on the ground. Then, as we pick up the skill, we move to other mediums such as paper and cloth.”
Ms. Ambika says she could not pursue studies after class 10. “There was nothing else to do but develop my passion for Mithila art to move ahead in life,” she recalls.
By the time, she got married at the age of 17, she had become proficient. But it was in Delhi where her husband worked that her journey to a national award and as a renowned Mithila art practitioner took off. “I had to work hard and carve out a space for myself. I had to do everything right from getting an identity card by visiting the handicrafts office there. Never did I give up, even if there was a stack of unsold paintings by my side. I knew that someday I would succeed.”
Award-winning work
It was a 5-ft long and 3.5-ft wide Krishna Leela depiction that fetched Ms. Ambika the national award in 2009.
Though there have been some changes over the years in Mithila paintings, things keep coming back to the traditional content and style, she says.
The most significant development though has been its interpretation on various products such as saris, bedsheets, curtains, pottery, trays, folders, mobile phone covers, jeans, shoes, and even ties. “After you have bought one painting, what next? Today, Mithila art can be seen on things people use. We are constantly thinking what products can we use it on.”
Ms. Ambika who is visiting the State for the third time finds her trips here very rewarding. “I have been to Ernakulam and Kozhikode before. This time, I’m visiting Thrissur. I have found during my workshops here that students, be it college students or those in schools, are very serious about their art. Parents too are very dedicated to seeing their wards develop their skills. And even as I teach them my art, I learn something from them.”
