Recounting Ramayana through Madhubani art

This festive season brings you an opportunity to kn­ow more about Rama­ya­na...but through art. Presented by veteran Madhubani artist and National Award winner, Shivan Paswan and around 20 National and State awardees, the exhibition ‘Walk through Ramayana’

is based on the seven chapters from Ramayana depicted through beautiful, fine,
intricate and colourful Madhubani paintings.In totality, there are about 35 paintings that are being showcased at the exhibition and majority of the artists involved are women. The proceeds raised from the sale of these paintings will be spent on the growth and development of the artists.

The exhibition which depicts seven kaands from the Ramayana is divided into various sections. And these sections depict Sita’s swayamvar with Lord Rama, Sundar Kaand, which has a depiction of the very beautiful Ashok Vatika, Hanuman’s encounter with Sita and her spotting of the golden deer. In short, glimpses of each chapter has been recreated here.

According to Paswan, “Madhubani art has evolved over the years and unique methods have been adopted for its growth. Earlier Madhubani art was restricted to the walls and interiors of village walls, but now it has travelled globally on canvasses, earthen pots and on wood as well. Traditionally, the colours which were used are extracts of flowers and vegetables. But owing to the seasonal variations and the cost, these dyes have been replaced by commercially made colours. Even the bamboo pens have now been replaced with artistic brushes.” Paswan is a veteran Madhubani artist and he picked up the art when he was just 10 years old after observing his mother and has been painting for over 30 years now.

The group of artists, mainly women who have successfully narrated Ramayana through their paintings, consists of Bhagwan Devi, Lalo Devi, Mato Devi, Sudha Devi, Narmada Devi, Deo Dutta and Remant Kumar, who are all State awardees.

The highlight of the exhibition is the live workshop of the Madhubani paintings by the artists at the venue itself. The exhibition, ‘Walk through Ramayana’ is on till October 16 from 11 am onwards at the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj and Gurgaon.