BAUA DEVI: MADHUBANI’S SOUL

To look at a work by the Padma Shri awardee Baua Devi is to recognise the grace and gravitas of India’s indigenous arts and crafts that still remain veiled in mystery even today. Her motifs, her compositional clarity and her stylised figures, created in intricate flat renderings, with meticulous repetition create a panorama of scenes that are immersed in the power of rituals, the faith of religion and festivity. Here in this epic unveiling by Payal Kapoor Director Arushi Arts a connoisseur and collector herself, we see an encapsulation and a celebration of rustic and rural Madhubani traditions and a way of living of India’s multifarious communities.

Bihar born genius

Born in the village of Jitwarpur in Bihar, over the past 70 years, Baua Devi has emerged as one of India’s pioneers of Mithila painting. Her ability to create a corollary of conversations from the most humble of compositions meticulously created brings this ancient folk art to people all over the world. Her story says that her talent was first noticed at the tender age of 12 by Mumbai-based artist Bhaskar Kulkarni, who encouraged her to accompany him to the National Crafts Museum in New Delhi in 1966. Her journey is one of perseverance and perfection in the power of the narrative.

Mythology and folk idioms

In her work, Baua Devi reinterprets mythology and folk tales from the feminine perspective, using natural handmade colours in her paintings that are both resonant as well as strong in tone and tenor.

Despite relocating to New Delhi, Baua Devi remains committed to her village in Bihar,

Lord Krishna and Gopis

Amongst these works that speak of community togetherness we see the presence of Lord Krishna the flautist and Muralidharan. She creates Lord Krishna as a beloved character who stands amidst the leaves of the trees, as the Gopis bathe beneath. Lord Krishna is both subject and muse.

His eyes and his poise both have a poignant placement in all the works. The Gopis odhinis hang in dramatic sensuousness from the branches. She also draws a contemporary Kali and a beautiful bevy of elephants as a group along with Lord Krishna as a cowherd with a mother and her calf.

Early History

Her work reminds us of the evolution of social and cultural roles.It is said that Madhubani was discovered by William G Archer, a British officer, who took photographs of the paintings and wrote about them in 1949 for Marg magazine after a disaster in Bihar when walls collapsed and works were spread all around the surroundings. Another disaster in the form of a drought in 1966 would nudge the artists out from within those painted walls and into the marketplace. By the time a young Baua found her feet and her oeuvre in Mithila art, the world recognised her uniqueness. With the prestigious National Award in 1984 she became the sole Mithila artist—and sole Indian woman—to show at the seminal 1989 show, Magiciens de la Terre in Paris and France.

Mithila to Madhubani

History says that Mithila art originated during the time of the epic Ramayana. Sita’s father, King Janaka asks the women of Mithila, a region that encompasses portions of present-day Bihar and Nepal, to paint the walls of their homes to celebrate the wedding of his daughter with Lord Rama. It later came to be called Madhubani art for the district where the practitioners of this art are concentrated. Common themes include the wedding of Rama and Sita, the courtship of Lord Krishna and Radha and scenes from the Mahabharata. Baua Devi’s art has found place in several important collections, in museums in India and abroad.

UMA NAIR
Curator & Critic

New Delhi