Spreading 'Madhubani' flavour

There are two kinds of paintings in Madhubani, that is, ‘Mithila Lokachitra’ and ‘Godhna’. ‘Mithila Lokachitra’ is used to paint the incidents of ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’. On the other hand, the hero of Bihari folk stories Raja Shailesh is the centre of attraction in ‘Godhna’ paintings.

In India, very few artists have mastered in ‘Madhubani’ painting. One of them is Shravan Kumar Paswan, from Madhubani district of Bihar. Shravan, born at ‘Jith var pur’ of Madhubani in 1972, is special for more than one reason as he is spreading the flavour of ‘Madhubani’ art outiside Bihar too.

Interestingly, his mother, Urmiladevi too is one among very few artists in India who has mastered the skill of ‘Godhna’ paintings. She is the recipient of many honours including the national award, ‘Kalidas Samman’ and ‘Rajyothsava’ award from the Bihar government.  Naturally, the mother’s talent flows in the blood of Shravan too.However, Shravan did not take much time to excel in ‘Madhubani’ and naturally, many organisations and NGOs have identified his talent.  His art works have been on display at ‘Manava Sangrahalaya’ and ‘Delhi Haath’ of New Delhi. This helped Shravan Paswan to get recognition in national as well as international forums.

Purushotthama Adve, a well known artist and a good friend of Shravan Paswan, says, “Shravan is special because he didn’t restrict himself to canvas painting. He is master in wall painting too. His Madhubani dolls and sculptures of Devi are well known in international level. Shravan is also skilled in ‘Paper pulp art’, a rare kind in painting.”
Apart from India, Shravan Paswan’s ‘Madhubani’ art works are well known Japan, Germany, America, England, France, China, Australia and many other countries too, says Adve.

In India, Shravan Kumar Paswan has exhibited his talent in Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Kashmir, Kerala, Chennai, Bhopal, Pune and many other cities of the country.  He is a known figure in coastal Karnataka also. In 2008, Shravan participated in ‘Alva’s Virasat’ at Moodbidri and in 2010 at Koteshwara in ‘National level artists’ workshop’.
There is yet another aspect which makes the artist stand apart and that is his whole hearted support for young artists. He gives training on ‘Madhubani’ for students. “Madhubani is very rare kind of painting. People don’t know much about this art. I just want to show the richness of this art,” says the humble artist.  Shravan Paswan too has received many honours for his talent and that includes ‘Ujjaini Kalidasa’ award. In fact, Paswan is a big hope and an ambassador for this rare art.