Madhubani painting or Mithila painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state, India and the adjoining parts of Terai in Nepal.
Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and
matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and are characterized by
eye-catching geometrical patterns. There are paintings for each occasion
and festival such as birth, marriage, holi, surya shasti, kali puja, Upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony), and durga puja.
The origins of Madhubani painting or Mithala Painting are shrouded in antiquity and mythology.
Madhubani painting has been done traditionally by the women of
villages around the present town of Madhubani (the literal meaning of
which is forests of honey).
The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and
floors of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and
canvas. Madhubani paintings are made from the paste of powdered rice. Madhubani
paintings also use two dimensional imagery, and the colors used are
derived from plants. Ochre and lampblack are also used for reddish brown and black respectively.
Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. 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. Objects depicted in the walls of kohabar ghar (where newly wed
couple see each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure
and procreation.