King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, to Lord Ram. Originally the painting was done on freshly plastered mud wall of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas.
Madhubani painting mostly give a picture of Nature and Hindu religious figures of various god and goddesses and the themes generally associated with Hindu deities. Besides scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings are also widely drawn... Other figures used are various animals, birds, leaves, flowers, plants along with symbols of swastika, shankha. Mostly deep colours are used for these paintings. All these colours are prepared by home-grown methods form some household products like banana leaves, milk and vermilion. Madhubani Paintings has two varieties: Bhittichitra and Aripana.
Generally Bhittichitra is done on the walls of houses particularly at: room of the family god/goddess, room of the newly wedded couple. Paintings are done on the outer and inner walls of these rooms on some auspicious occasions like marriage, upnayana and festivities like Dussehra and Deepawali because it is believed that they bring prosperity and joy to the family
The other type of painting is known as Aripana which stands for line drawings on the floor of the House. Originally the purpose of this Aripana was to make the cultivated land fertile and fruitfully by magical performances.
Use metallic colour on Hand-made paper and silk fabric