Mithila Painting, an age-old genre of fine arts practiced around Nepal’s Tarai belt and in Northern Bihar, has seen something of a renaissance of late. This antique art, practiced mostly by women artists, has today emerged as an unlikely source of income. But even so, experts maintain, the true potential of the art form has yet to be fully explored. If given the attention it deserves, it could go a long way in making the art self-reliant, and could even go on to lay a foundation for art entrepreneurship. 

This past month, the BP Koirala Foundation Project organised two consecutive conferences, in the Capital and in Janakpur, that saw a team of Mithila enthusiasts—journalist Atul K Thakur and independent researcher Chitralekha Jha—engage in discussion with stakeholders including policymakers, art scholars and journalists about the present and the future of the art form. The conferences featured discussions on how to sensitise stakeholders to help explore the immense potential the art form has.

Speaking at the Janakpur event, researcher Jha said, “The latest bids to commercialise Mithila paintings have created a better ground for women to participate in the Mithila folk painting industry, which is all the more remarkable when looked from an economic point of view.”

While journalist Thakur argued that, in a country where setting up large-scale industries is challenging, developing Mithila art entrepreneurship could be a viable and promising alternative. 

“It is a sector which should not be ignored by the government, industry and citizens,” he said, adding, “To make a sizeable economic transformation in the country, these industries are most suitable, with their comparatively low reliance on capital—and in their ability to make use of locally-available raw materials, production techniques and human resources.” 

Today, when the passion for Mithila art is being linked with entrepreneurship, and with women taking the lead, the art form, as journalist Thakur put it, could be a promising alternative for economic progress of the regions it is practiced in. 

The two conferences saw participation of former finance minister Madhukar SJB Rana, vice-president of Nepal Art Council Sagar SJB Rana, journalist Kanak Mani Dixit, art historian Dr Ram Dayal Rakesh, journalist Rupa Jha, advocate Dipendra Jha, journalist Atul K Thakur, Chitralekha Jha, economist Bhogendra Jha, academician Hari Bansh Jha, and activist Sunil Mallik. 

The panel discussions are slated to be compiled into a  research report, which will later be published as a book.