Madhubani

ミティラー画（マドゥバニ） / traditional–present / Style / Persian and Indian Painting

Women of the Mithila region in Bihar have painted these festival images on walls and floors for generations. Pattern crowds out every empty space, and the mythic imagery is still alive and still being updated.

Madhubani — Mithila painting (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Bhuvana Meenakshi — Mithila painting (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Bhuvana Meenakshi

Madhubani — Mithila painter at work (CC BY-SA 4.0) · © Pallav.journo — Mithila painter at work (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Pallav.journo

Madhubani — ミティラー画ニューデリー国立工芸博物館 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Mohitkiran — ミティラー画ニューデリー国立工芸博物館 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Mohitkiran

At a glance

Visual cues

Pattern filling the plane
Double outlines
Mythic imagery
Natural pigments

Best used for

Festive decoration needing dense pattern that leaves no empty ground
Walls and picture books that tell myth through line and pattern alone

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Dictionary entry

Type: Draw lettering with the same line and ring it with pattern
Composition: Place the main figures first, then fill every gap with fish and flowers
Material: Double outlines separating figure from ground, a limited natural palette
Caution: Tiling the pattern as pure material strips the imagery of its blessing and prayer, and the work sinks to decorative texture.
Further study: Ganga Devi and the named masters / the move from wall to paper (1960s) / the women's lineage of transmission

Related entries

Kalighat Painting (カーリーガート絵画)Same Persian and Indian Painting lineage.Compare Madhubani and Kalighat Painting
Naïve (ナイーブ)Shared effects: Intimacy.Compare Madhubani and Naïve

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/madhubani
Markdown: [Madhubani — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/madhubani)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/madhubani">Madhubani — IndexStyle</a>

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