Bihar's famous Madhubani Painting registered as "GI"Global Indications (GI) Act and now to be patented

Patna, Dec 31: The famous Madhubani painting of Bihar is now an exclusive brand as it has been registered under the provisions of Global Indications (GI) Act for patenting.

'The Madhubani painting of Bihar is the first item to be registered under the GI Act for patenting,' Abhijit Das, representative of United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said here Saturday.

For ages, rural people, mostly women, of Mithila in Bihar have developed their own tradition of art, popularly known as Madhubani paintings and named after Madhubani district. This painting tradition dates back to the seventh century AD.

Traditionally, Madhubani paintings were made on the eve of certain rituals and ceremonies such as pujas (worships), vratas (fasts) or weddings. But in the last few decades, Madhubani paintings have been popularised the world over by master painters.

Das said after Madhubani paintings, the famous Shahi litchi of Muzaffarpur could become an exclusive brand of Bihar soon. 'The process is underway for GI registration of Shahi litchi too,' he said.

Bihar is also aiming to register tassar silk and aromatic Katarni rice of Bhagalpur under the provisions of GI Act for patenting.

Das was here to attend a workshop on 'Geographical Indications for Regional Development: Identifying Potential GIs for Bihar'.

Once the Bihar government gets exclusive right to the brand name Shahi litchi, no one else will be able to use it to market the fruit in India or abroad. Buyers anywhere would know that a litchi, with this brand name, has to be one of the famous litchis of Muzaffarpur, he said.

The horticulture department officials have prepared documents under the Geographical Indications clause of International Property Rights laws to prove their case that the Shahi litchi is unique and it grows only in Muzaffarpur.

They expect the registration of the brand name will benefit farmers, who will gain access to more markets and get better prices.

About 70 percent of all litchis produced in India are grown in Bihar. The number of farmers in the state growing litchis has increased in the last decade, especially in Muzaffarpur district.

But in a recent report, the World Bank noted that litchis were being grown in only about 10 percent of the 2,000-odd orchards in Muzaffarpur.

Countries that import litchis from India are the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Canada, Russia and Yemen.

Bihar's Madhubani artists get poor returns

Madhubani paintings have been patronised by the elite for decades, but the artists are a frustrated people. iddlemen and traders have been exploiting them and the painters receive little money for their labour. It has literally become a labour of love for them.

Madhubani art is actually Mithila art as it belongs to Mithila region of Bihar. It is regarded to be one the best known genres of Indian folk paintings in the country.

The middlemen and traders collect the paintings from them and the painters do not know how it is sold and for how much. etween the middlemen and traders, a virtual mafia is operating. It has taken control of their artworks. The artists no longer want to continue with their profession.

The prices for the standard 22 x 30 inch paintings displayed at the Bihar Emporium mostly ranges rupees 650 to 1,500. ut the dealers purchase the works from the artists in and around Madhubani for about rupees 200 or less and sell them at rupees 1,200 to 2,600.

Artists lament that though everyone knows about the exploitation, nothing is being done by authorities to help them. For the past 15 to 16 years we have been doing this work, but the Government has stopped giving travelling or dearness allowances. he middleman comes and takes away the paintings. We have to plead for payments. We do not feel like carrying on the work further," said Asha Devi, an artist.

For generations, the women of Mithila have decorated their house walls with intricate, linear designs on the occasion of marriages and other ceremonies.

Painting, in fact, forms a key part of the Mithila women's education, culminating in the painting of the walls of the Kohbar or, nuptial chamber on a wedding.

It is said that colours and creativity with paintbrush is in the veins of women in Mithila. Though, there enthusiasm to make these paintings is on a sharp decline.

For instance, the art circuit in Delhi and also the commercial studios are dominated by so-called Mithila Godana paintings that usually consist of small repetitive designs. These are said to be based on tattoos.

They are almost always painted on top of a light brown cow-dung wash spread over the soft white handmade paper. In general, these paintings, and other more traditional styles, seem crudely executed, and mass produced, even by hand.

Many apparently come at little or almost no cost from short-term Government sponsored training programmes.

"The Government is not paying any attention to the middlemen. They sell the artists' products on their own. But with such mean acts, the artists stop making anything," said Mahasundari Devi, famous Madhubani artist and winner of National and State Awards.

Rural Development Board, however, claims that their organisation is aiming at providing raw material to the artists at the lowest minimum prices and even facilitating painting exhibitions for artists.

"These women come here and design the clothes. The raw material is provided by the organisation. Different rates have been fixed for different varieties of designs like rupees 1,000 for silk cloth, rupees 700 for cotton spun and rupees 200 for duppatta," said Rakesh Jha, Programme co-ordinator of Rural Development Board in Bihar.

"Then we take these products for exhibition on behalf of the organisation and sell at good prices. Moreover, we sell it to the foreigners coming here," Jha added.

The authorities concerned say that self help groups (SHGs) have been asked to come forward, form a federation and market their product.

"We agree that there are some unscrupulous elements in the society and they try to take over the market. But we have asked these self help groups to form an independent federation and collect their produce at one place, sell and market them on their own,"said Upendra Kumar, Deputy Development Commissioner of Darbhanga.

Siliguri’s Bihar link

Art forms are becoming the pujas of Siliguri this year and keeping with the spirit, Swastika Yubak Sangha, which is celebrating its golden jubilee puja this year, would be showcasing the traditional art of Madhubani painting at its pandal this year.

Madhubani is a traditional form of folk art of Bihar handed down from one generation to the next. People in the state paint Madhubani art to decorate their walls on special occasions.

"The place where the tradition originated is known as Madhuban and the two syllable word in part means honey and forest," illuminated the artists now deeply engaged in painting the art form at the Swastika puja pandal. The art form chiefly depicts scenes from the two Epics ~ Ramayana and Mahabharata ~ in addition to that of Hindu gods and goddesses with nature as the background.

According to the puja organisers, in the 50th year, they are recreating the replica of a village at Madhubani at their club premises in the Dangipara neighbourhood. To decorate the village with the Madhubani art 26 artisans have been brought over from Midnapore. "A 1000 clay images in mainly the Madhubani art pattern would be used to decorate the pandal," said the puja committee secretary Mr Subhra Dey. The club would be spending a whopping Rs 10 lakh to treat the people of Siliguri with its art form this puja.