Madhubani Painting: The Symbol of Mithlanchal

A fabulous collection of the samples of Mithila's domestic art is demonstrated in the Chandradhari Museum, Darbhanga. W.G. Archer has also a collection of Mithila paintings and so has Upendra Maharathi, the artist, under whose supervision a collection of Bihar's folk art and craft has been built up at the Bihar Government Institute of Industrial Design, Digha, near Patna. 
The origins of Madhubani painting are cloaked in antiquity and mythology it has been traditionally done by the women of villages around the present town of Madhubani and other areas of Mithila popularly known as Mithalanchal. The painting was conventionally done on newly plastered mud wall of huts which is quite common in mithalanchal, but now in its new avatar it is also made on hand-made paper, cloth, and canvas to reach the drawing room and bed room of the art lover across the globe.
As Madhubani painting has remained confined to the Mithlanchal area of Bihar for the long period and the skills of the artists have been passed on one generation to another. The Madhubani painting had changed their canvas with time however the content and the style have largely remained the same. Madhubani painting generally uses two dimensional imagery and the colors used are derived from various plants. Lampblack and ochre are also used for reddish brown and black sheds respectively.