Mandana

Origin: This is one of the oldest forms of tribal art, which is practised in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by the 'Meena' community.

Etymology: The word 'Mandana' is derived from the word 'mandan' which means decoration in their regional language. Hence, Mandana means to draw.

Location: Since the Meena community are the predominant settlers in Rajasthan, they make up about 56.34% of the overall population of Rajasthan. In Rajasthan, they are spread out in the districts of Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Hadoti, and Jhalawar.

Community: The Meena community of Madhya Pradesh only participates in making floor paintings, whereas the Meena community of Rajasthan makes floor and wall paintings. These paintings are made by the community on the occasion of local festivals and to celebrate marriages.

Relevance: The Meena community believes that Mandana paintings protect their homes from evil power, illnesses, and bad luck.

Historical background: To fend off evil and welcome the gods' gifts, this art is painted on the walls and floors of the home, both inside and outdoors. Since caring for the home and family has traditionally been seen as a woman's responsibility in Meena society, women make up the majority of those who paint. This art form is not a discipline and is not taught in a formal setting, it is an acquired skill alike any other folk art form. The ladies of the Meena clan have traditionally used them as decorations for special or joyous occasions.

These events included group religious services, holidays and fasts, and eventually happy events that occurred within the community, including births and weddings. The painting tended to depict the main deity of the celebration since they were made for spiritual purposes. The belief behind drawing their deity is that the festival's deity is called forth through the painting. Numerous additional patterns seen in the Mandana paintings are reminiscent of Vastu purasha mandalas, old temple floor plans, and Vedic yagna altar designs. Geometry and architectural details have a direct influence on many of the Mandana paintings' patterns. The drawings themselves are made in a very feminine way and don't follow any set rules of perspective or proportion.

Culture and societies: These paintings are exclusively painted by women, and are made on auspicious occasions of festivals and marriages. Apart from painting Mandana designs on house walls and floors, the Meena women create relief work on a few houses and grain containers. These relief works donned abstract and symbolic designs on them. This is a transgenerational art form that is exclusively woman-centric.

Religious significance: Since a larger part of the Meena community resided in Rajasthan, their beliefs, socio-cultural practices, and motifs were greatly influenced by Hindu culture and their deities.

Central motifs and their significance: Most of the people of Meena community of Rajasthan are Hindu. So, the motifs they make are a mixture of religious and natural elements. Motifs of Lord Ganesha, women doing daily chores, birds, animals such as peacocks and tigers, and floral motifs are some of the popular ones. Apart from religious and natural elements, the Meena women also indulge in creating geometric, geomorphic, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic designs as well.

Medium used: To prepare the base for these floor paintings geru (red soil) and clay called rati is utilised. A solution made with limestone powder or chalk powder is used as a colour to paint. They make natural paintbrushes out of either a date stick, a small cluster of hair, or a piece of cotton fabric to paint the white mixture onto the floor.

Style: This art form is usually done in white and red colours. These are paintings that have motifs ranging from deities to nature-related motifs. These are well-centred and balanced pieces that are perfectly symmetrical and are drawn free-hand using plotting points. These paintings have a floral and decorative border which secures the painting together and compliments it as well.

Process: The base of their walls and floors are prepared by coating them with either cow dung or yellow mud called peeli mitti, a mixture of both these elements gives the walls a reddish tinge. Sometimes they plaster the walls with three, maybe four layers of this mixture for better results. After the walls are bedaubed, they leave the walls to dry for a day or two. During this drying period, no painting is done on these walls. Once these walls are dry, they paint them with a white and red mixture either obtained by limestone powder or white clay, and the red pigment is obtained by mixing cow dung and yellow mud.

At present, some Meena women use store-bought synthetic paints like acrylics and oil paints. They paint the designs on the surfaces either with their fingers or by tying a piece of cloth around their fingers or they use twigs. The symmetrical designs are created by plotting the points first, for example, a set of three points are plotted to make an equilateral triangle. After the points are plotted, they start filling in their designs.

Change in the art over time: The major change is in the medium used to create these paintings. Earlier a balanced mixture of water and limestone powder or white clay was used but now synthetic mediums such as oil paints and acrylics have replaced the traditional mediums.

Mandana paintings are on the decline for various factors all concerning the shift from a tribal to a contemporary lifestyle. The prime reason for the decline is that these were drawn on mud houses with clay but since most houses are now made of cement and clay is becoming unavailable, it is difficult to revive this art form traditionally.

1. Saksena, J. (1985) Mandana a folk art of Rajasthan. New Delhi: Crafts Museum.