Mithila Art

Janakpur, a city in Nepalıs eastern Terai, is a Hindu pilgrimage site with legendary history. God Ram and goddess Sita are said to have been married there, and each year Janakpur celebrates Ramıs birthday and his marriage anniversary.
People come to Janakpur from all over the world to see the Janaki Mandir, a Mogul- style temple dedicated to Sita. Janakpur was once the capital of a kingdom called Maithili whose territory extended into present day Bihar and it remains today the center of Maithili culture in Nepal.

Maithili culture has its own language and rich literary tradition, and a womenıs tradition of painting and handicraft which has been passed down from generation to generation. Examples of the womenıs arts can be seen in the mud homes in villages nearby Janakpur. Visitors to the Janakpur Womenıs Development Center will notice the artistic tradition alive on the walls of the neighboring village, Kuwa.

The uniquely designed womenıs training and cultural center is the first of its kind to celebrate the arts of Janakpur and use the traditional arts of women for their empowerment. The painting tradition varies from caste to caste. The art of Brahmins and Kayastha is closely tied to religious ritual, as exemplified in the making of aripana.

To make aripana a woman grinds rice with some water into a paste called pithar. Dipping two fingers into the pithar, she makes graceful lace-like designs on the mud floor of her home or courtyard. She then dots the designs with red powder. Women have a repertoire of such designs that may be drawn for worship of the house deity or for rituals related to marriage or a particular full moon day. The arts of the women are transient. Rains destroy the mud and painted designs or in the spring during a New Year festival, paintings are covered over with mud.

For most Maithili women the practice of painting on paper is fairly new. The art on paper has come to be called Madhubani art, because Maithili culture in Madhubani India was particularly strong and because the painting tradition was invigorated during a project for drought relief in the 1960s in which women were encouraged to paint. Since the establishment of the Janakpur Womenıs Development Center, the Maithili art of Nepal has taken a direction of its own, to be distinguished around the world. Figures are shown without perspective, often in profile and with large eyes. Natural images such as leaves, lotus flowers, parrots and fish, fill empty space in all types of scenes. Careful attention is paid to color and pattern. Designs border the page. These spontaneous paintings are Ŝ shown on rough handmade Nepali paper.

The JWDC was established in 1992 as a NGO (non-government organization) with the hope of encouraging women to keep their artistic skills alive. Visitors are welcomed to visit the center, meet the artists and learn about their artistic tradition. JWDC has concentrated training in a broad range of skills. Because the market for painting was deemed limited, women were taught how to use their painting techniques and traditional designs with other media such as printing, ceramics, sewing and weaving. Focus was given to training women who were poor, uneducated and had little chance to experience the outside world. Because the arts of Maithili are the womenıs own, the JWDC believes that women should have jurisdiction over the marketing of their art and that profits should be cooperatively managed by the producers. In order to empower women, they are given training in literacy, record-keeping, costing and quality control, marketing, management, leadership, team building, gender awareness, planning and evaluation. It is hoped that JWDC provides a model womenıs empowerment program, wishing to harness tradition to achieve social change.

Your purchase of a Janakpur painting supports and encourages this effort, as well as providing you a pleasurable visual and emotional connection to the common bonds of the womenıs experience.