Patna, April 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over a Madhubani painting by Bihar-born artist Baua Devi to Hannover mayor Stefan Schosstok yesterday.
At 70, Baua Devi could not have imagined the flutters she has created in election-bound Bihar after Modi tweeted last night: "Gifted a Madhubani painting to the Lord Mayor of Hannover".
BJP leaders in the state are overjoyed at Modi's gesture in the German city. "It is a reflection of the concern and interest our Prime Minister has for Bihar. Even abroad, he is promoting an art form, which has its roots in Bihar," said veteran BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav.
The JDU, on the other hand, thinks the simple Madhubani gift might become a political plank in the Assembly election campaign. "Now, the Prime Minister will keep mentioning it in his election speeches in Bihar, especially in the Mithila region," said a JDU leader.
Today, the internationally acclaimed painter had other worries on the family front. "She has gone to the hospital to get my elder brother checked," said her 40-year-old son Amreesh Jha, stressing that his mother had not met Modi though. "But the painting, 'The Tree of Life', must have been one of those sold to government institutions," he told The Telegraph from Delhi.
Amreesh said the painting depicts various stages of life.
But Baua Devi's tryst with international fame is not new. Her paintings have earlier been exhibited in Japan, France, US and other countries. "A Japanese team stayed with us for a month and then documented her also. She has been to Japan a dozen times," Amreesh said. She paints on paper and her themes are an array of personal and mythological subjects with her favourite being the snake maiden ( nag kanya). Born in Jitwarpur village in Madhubani district, Baua Devi was married at the age of 12.
During the mid-1960s, the Mithila region witnessed severe drought. It was, said Amareesh, in 1965 that Pupul Jayakar, friend of Indira Gandhi, sent her close aide Bhaskar Kulkarni to see what can be done to encourage the traditional Mithila painting. Kulkarni supplied material to Baua Devi and her paintings found their way to government handicraft shops in Delhi and other cities. The rest, as they say, is history as Baua Devi emerged as one of the most recognised Madhubani painters of India focusing on gods and goddesses and other symbols of religion. Her husband Jagannath Jha, who assisted her in the paintings, died last year.
"She has been painting for more than 50 years. Nowadays, her paintings usually sell at Rs 20,000 apiece," Amreesh said.
He added that his mother had encouraged his five sisters to continue with Madhubani painting. "We still spend six months - usually from May to October - at our native village and the rest six in Delhi," Amreesh added.
"I was impressed by her simplicity during my brief interaction with her," said Sakshi Gambhir, a Mumbai-based communication designer who had documented Nauwa Devi along with four other Madhubani artists last year.
Mithila painting is a centuries-old tradition of women of the region who used to paint on the walls of mud houses on occasions of festivals and marriages. In the early 1970s, late LN Mishra gave exposure to Mithila painting. "But it was the Nitish Kumar government, which announced the opening of an institute for Mithila Painting at Saurath, 12km from Madhubani. The institute is affiliated to Aryabhatta Knowledge University and the course is going to start from this year," said JDU leader Sanjay Jha.
