Themes

Each art form has its own particular way of self-expression, and there lies a solid motif, a subject, a theme to express. Just like say for instant a dish is incomplete without a pinch of salt similarly any art work without a theme seems quite incomplete. Thankfully, Madhubani paintings in this respect have variety of themes.

Well talking about themes, Madhubani paintings mainly reflects aesthetic tastes, religious learning, love for natural phenomenon, affection for the feminine beauty, divinity and the panoramic view of the day to day life of the people. Let us get into the depth of each theme.

Nature-

Since from our childhood we had been taught the importance of nature and co-incidentally this is what we see in Madhubani paintings also. Yes indeed, nature forms one of the important themes for the Madhubani painters where animals, plants and environment are delineated with artistic magnificence. Even paintings of animals like turtle, snakes, fishes, birds, religious plants like tulsi, the sun, the moon etc are drawn all having significant meaning.

Madhubani painting on Nature

Mythology-

As we know, the Mithila’s are deeply religious, so paintings on mythological themes depicting God and Goddesses are a common sight. The Brahmin and Kayastha paintings have themes from mainstream Hinduism including the Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti cults. The Dushadhs on the other hand, paints the stories of Raja Sailesh, the hero of their epic, Mahagatha. The influence of goddess Kali has been quite predominant in the tradition of Tantra. Lord Vishnu with his four kinds of weapons (namely – Sankha, Chakra, Gada and Padmaf) is also drawn.

       Even the mythological stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata come into life through Madhubani paintings. The story of Lord Rama and Sita’s wedding has long been used as a motif of Madhubani painting. Even Hindu deity Hanuman who was an ardent devotee of Rama, a character of great strength and devotion forms the subject of Madhubani paintings. Paintings describing various stories of Lord Krishna’s childhood and Krishna Leela are also widely popular.

A Madhubani painting on Krishna leela

Village life-

Apart from the above two themes Madhubani paintings elaborating daily activities of the village life including scenes of villages, farming, collecting water, cattle rearing, females winnowing rice and wheat , women doing their household works etc are also attracting people.

A Madhubani painting depicting females doing daily household work

Contemporary Issues-

Today the artists are aware of the current issues and due to the impact of globalization; artists are now trying to come out of their shells and try out some new topics which includes drug abuse, alcoholism and smoking. Even natural calamities and threats like tsunami and global warming are also painted now-a-days.

A Madhubani painting spreading the message of having girl child