Original Mithila Wall Painting

Hi Everyone!

I know I have mentioned that Mithila paintings are originally done on the mud built walls of houses in Mithila region and never really gotten to show what the original wall paintings look like.

The picture on the left is one of the original wall paintings done by a female Mithila student. As you can see, the brick red color is made from red soil, green color from plant leaves, blue color is from the blue ink used in pens, and finally the black color used for the hair is from coal.

The picture is that of Goddess Saraswati, which in Hindu religion is the goddess of Knowledge and Skills such as music and arts. Although she is worshiped by all, students especially worship her for good outcomes in their academics. She is also the wife of Brahma, the God of Creation.

The name Saraswati also has significance in Buddhism. She is known as the guardian deity who upholds the teachings of Gautama Buddha by offering protection and assistance to practitioners.

Artist Profile: Mala Thakur

Mala Thakur lives in a joint family of eight. Seven years ago, she used to live in Mumbai, India, where her husband worked in a garment factory. But her husband got very ill while working in the factory and hence they had to return back to the village.

Despite her deep desire to become a mother, she does not have children of her own. She was pregnant twice: she had a miscarriage once and her child died right after birth for the second time. Infant mortality rate and miscarriages are very common among Nepali women due to lack of proper hygiene, nutrition and maternal care. Her elder sister who lived in Bihar state on India (on the border of Nepal and India) died to some severe disease after giving birth to her first child and Mala adopted her niece. She has been raising her sister's daughter like her own since then.

Mala was extremely excited to join the Jurshital Institute since she enjoys art and craft works. She has been enjoying her time at the Institute, as she says that she can emerge herself into creating beautiful paintings, while the rest of the world is ignored.

Artist Profile: Rukmini Devi

Her name is Rukmini Devi and she is a mother of five daughters. Her eldest daughter is seventeen and the youngest is ten. Her husband left her after the birth of her fifth daughter and there has been no news about him. Her eldest daughter got married two years ago after she passed her SLC, which is equivalent to tenth grade.

As for Rukmini, she relies on her brother in law for every need from food to clothing, no wonder healthcare is a luxury for her. She saved the extra money that she earned from the training process last summer of 2009 for updating her glasses, as she had not had her eye check up for five years.

With the hope that her husband will come back to her someday, she lives her life with optimism. She is one of the most regular attendees at the Jurshital Institute. She loves disappearing into her world of Mithila paintings except at times when she gets a headache due to her eye problems.

The paints bought directly from the market are too thick too be used for the painting. Hence, she is thinning it by mixing the original paint with emulsion, a white colored paint, and water. Recycled tin boxes are used to do the mixing and they are covered after the day's work. The next day, more water is added to the paints as they quicky dry up in hot weather of Halkhori.

Two women in this image are cutting the Lokta paper into appropriate size for the Jurshital Institute, where all the women at the Institute will use this paper for Mithila paintings.

Jurshital Mithila Art Institute celebrates 3 months today since its official registration as a non-profit organization. The institute is doing very well as it obtained an additional funding from Clinton Global Initiatives University at the end of Summer of 2010. This has further funded two more months of training from the month of October to November. These Mithila women have now learnt enough to produce sellable paintings in markets of Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Indeed, we have found a vendor in Kathmandu, who runs a book and antique store in Thamel, the art of tourist center in Kathmandu, who has agreed to dedicate some space in her shop for selling these Mithila paintings for no additional cost. There is another trekkers company in Pokhara that works for women empowerment by training women to become tourist guides. This organization has also offered to promote these paintings among their clients.