Madhubhani is a district in the northern Indian state of Bihar. The district headquarters is a town by the same name and the Mithila Art Institute is located in the town, across the street from the girls’ college. Madhubani District reaches to the Nepal border and Mithila painting reaches across the border so that Mithila painting is done in Nepal as well as in India. The region is most famous as the birthplace of the goddess Sita, heroine of the epic The Ramayana. It is a fertile region of rice paddies and ponds, so rice, bamboo, and fish are key elements in many Mithila paintings. The first set of pictures gives a sense of the region and the town. Even today, Madhubani town has a population of less than 100,000. Most of the painters live in surrounding villages, and the students at the Mithila Art Institute come from both villages and the town.
The area is dominated by two castes, Brahmins who were traditional priests and landlords and Kayasthas, who were government workers and landlords. A variety of lower castes, including those who were considered untouchables, here called Dusadh, provide services to the high castes. One painter, Dulari Devi, was the servant in a Kayastha household and learned to paint as a result of her employment. Other lower castes were encouraged to paint by outsiders who helped them to develop their own styles. Some art critics do not term the lower caste painting style, godhana, to be Mithila art, but the general public does not make that differentiation.
Map of Madhubani
Madhbani and its Surrounds:
The Training and Art of Mithila Painters:
