India Art: Madhubani

Madhubani, or Mithila, painting is a folk painting of northern India in the State of Bihar near Nepal that is mostly practiced by village women who have passed the art along to their daughters through multiple generations. They paint pictures of nature and Hindu mythology to depict events like birth, marriage, and cycles of life. Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by eye-catching geometrical patterns.