Mithila Painting and Janakpur: A Visitor's Guide

Mithila is a cultural region rather than a country: the plains between the Himalayan foothills and the Ganges, split today between south-eastern Nepal and northern Bihar in India. In the Ramayana it is Videha, the kingdom of King Janak and the birthplace of his daughter Sita. Its people, the Maithil, speak Maithili, the second most spoken language in Nepal, used by about 11 percent of the population in the 2021 census.

Maithili has a long literary history. Its best-loved poet, Vidyapati, wrote love songs and devotional verse in the 14th and 15th centuries that are still sung at weddings. The language once had its own script, Tirhuta or Mithilakshar, though today it is mostly written in Devanagari. In Janakpur you will hear Maithili in the bazaar, see it on shop signs and taste it in the food.

For generations, Maithil women have painted the walls of their homes for rituals, festivals and above all weddings. The most important painting was the kohbar, made in the room where a newly married couple spent their first nights, filled with symbols of fertility, love and long life. On the floor, women drew aripan, intricate designs in rice paste, for pujas and ceremonies. The skill passed from mother to daughter, and the work was never meant to last; walls were replastered and repainted for each occasion.

The wider world noticed in 1934, when a great earthquake struck Bihar and a British official, William G. Archer, saw paintings on the exposed inner walls of damaged homes. Later, in the 1960s, drought in Bihar led women to paint on paper for sale, and Mithila or Madhubani painting became known worldwide. In Nepal, the Janakpur Women's Development Centre, started in the late 1980s, helped Maithil women turn their art into a livelihood, painting on paper and making ceramics and textiles.

Mithila paintings are full of meaning. Bold black outlines frame flat areas of bright colour, and almost every space is filled with pattern. Traditionally colours came from natural sources: soot for black, turmeric for yellow, flowers and leaves for reds and greens. Today many artists also use poster paints and acrylics. Below are some common motifs and the meanings they are usually given, though artists bring their own stories to each piece.

The Janakpur Women's Development Centre in Kuwa, a short ride south of the town centre, is the best place to start. Women artists work in a quiet courtyard building, painting on paper, making clay figures and tiles, and sewing and printing textiles. Visitors can watch, ask questions and buy directly. With notice, artists can run a short painting lesson, explaining how they plan a composition and fill it with pattern.

To see painting in its home setting, walk through villages around Janakpur with a local guide, especially after weddings or festivals, when fresh paintings cover walls and doorways. Many homes have painted shrines or simple motifs around the door. Paintings fade with sun and rain, so what you see depends on timing; winter, after the wedding season, is usually best.

• Janakpur Women's Development Centre, Kuwa: artists at work, workshops, sales
• Villages around Janakpur: wall paintings after weddings and festivals
• Janakpur during Vivah Panchami: paintings, decorations and processions
• Craft shops in Kathmandu and Patan: Mithila work for sale if you cannot reach Janakpur

Janakpur is above all a pilgrimage town. Janaki Mandir, completed in 1910 and built by Queen Vrisha Bhanu of Tikamgarh in central India, stands where tradition says an image of Sita was found. With its white domes and arches, it looks more like a Rajput palace than a Nepali temple. Locals call it Nau Lakha Mandir, after its cost of nine lakh rupees. Beside it is the Vivah Mandap, marking the wedding of Ram and Sita.

The town is also famous for its ponds, or sagar, used for bathing, rituals and festivals. Ganga Sagar and Dhanush Sagar are the best known. At dusk families walk the ghats, lamps are floated on the water, and bells ring from the temples. North-east of town, Dhanusha Dham marks the place where tradition says a piece of Shiva's bow fell after Ram broke it to win Sita's hand.

Vivah Panchami, in November or December, re-enacts the wedding of Ram and Sita with processions, music and decorated chariots, and draws pilgrims from across Nepal and India. Ram Navami, Ram's birthday, in March or April, is also busy. Chhath, a few days after Tihar in October or November, is perhaps the most beautiful festival in Mithila: women fast and stand in the ponds at sunset and sunrise to make offerings to the sun, while families sing on the banks.

During these festivals, Janakpur fills up and hotels raise prices, so book early. Outside festivals, the town is calm, friendly and almost free of foreign tourists, which is part of its charm.

Maithil food is one of the pleasures of a Janakpur visit. The staple breakfast of many families is dahi chura, beaten rice with thick curd and sugar or molasses, eaten with a pickle or a little vegetable curry. Fish from the ponds is central to Maithil cooking, curried with mustard oil, and makhana, the fox nut grown in the ponds of Mithila, appears roasted as a snack or cooked in sweets. In the bazaar around Janaki Mandir, sweet shops fry jalebi in the evening and sell milk sweets to pilgrims.

Daily life follows the temples and the ponds. Mornings start with bells and bathing, cycle rickshaws carry pilgrims and schoolchildren, and markets fill with vegetables from nearby villages. Many people move easily between Maithili, Nepali and Hindi. History runs deep here too: a few hours' drive to the west, at Simraungadh, lie the remains of the capital of the Karnat kings who ruled Mithila from the late 11th century until the early 14th, when an army from Delhi sacked the city. The ruins are modest, but they remind you that this flat land of rice and ponds was once the seat of a kingdom.

Buy directly from artists or through the Women's Development Centre whenever you can; it means more money goes to the painter. Prices depend on size, detail and the artist's reputation. Small paintings on handmade paper are inexpensive, while large, finely detailed works can cost many thousands of rupees and are well worth it. Ask the artist to sign the back and tell you the story of the piece.

Paintings on paper roll easily for travel; ask for a tube or stiff card. Ceramics and tiles need careful packing. Avoid cheap printed copies sold as originals in some tourist markets; a real painting shows brush marks and small irregularities.