Tale of Madhubani: In Artist’s Words

Bookmarks of Madhubani Painting

Countless visits to Indian art fairs make me feel that my familiarity with Indian arts and crafts has reached its peak, and reached a stage where I can boast of calling myself an encyclopedia of Indian arts and crafts. Strangely though, every time I visit a new crafts bazaar, I’m  awestruck by the myriad arena of Indian Ethnic Fashion, still waiting to be explored.

On another of my recent visits to a crafts fair, I came across an elderly woman sitting in a kiosk,  calling out to me, saying ‘Aree Madamji..aa jao, kuch to le jao. Achche daam laga denge.” As I  passed by her stall, I was enthralled by the colorful canvas of artwork done beautifully on fabrics, papier maché and paper. To say I wasn’t familiar with this art form would be wrong – the vibrant colors, characteristic geometric designs, and traditional motifs like fish, parrot, elephant, turtle, sun, moon, bamboo tree, lotus, always revive my fascination for this vivid art that originates from the land of Mithila.

Madhubani Artist

As I started to move on to the next stall, she called out to me again. This time, I simply walked into her stall, in awestruck wonder As I made myself comfortable, the elderly lady, began to narrate the historical tale of Madhubani art. From tales of its origin, to the intricate process of hard work that goes behind each piece of work, to asking her why this art is essentially done by women, there was a lot I heard for the first time. And all of it intrigued me to own a piece of this treasured art of India. Sensing my enthusiasm, she coaxed me to buy a finely done Madhubani wall painting, “Madam, ek to le jao, abhi tak boni nahi hui hai.”  Tempted to take back this treasure, I eventually ended up buying a few bookmarks, a papier mache jar and a small wall hanging depicting a Madhubani painting.

The joy of owning something which has a rich Indian connect and, over that, the feeling of making someone happy and appreciating them for their creative talent filled my heart with a sense of contentment and happiness, as I walked out of the fair.