Tikuli

Etymology: The word Tikuli comes from the word tikli or bindi, which is an ornamental dot that is adorned on the forehead, between the eyebrows. This is generally seen worn by women in India.

Origin: Tikuli art emerges in Patna, Bihar, part of ancient Patliputra. It is an 800-year-old art form.

Location: This art form is native to Bihar, more specifically it arises from Patna City.

Community: It serves as a livelihood for 300-500 artisans and their families in regular places in Digha, Danapur, and Gai Ghat mahallas of Patna town of Bihar.

Relevance: Tikuli paintings were created predominately by women. These paintings are a composition of tiny intricate dots which signify the small decorative circles bindis that women apply on their foreheads. Bindi represents the intellectual prowess of women. Spiritually it signifies the third eye which is usually associated with one's spiritual awakening. In modern times Tikuli art has become a medium of women's empowerment in Bihar

Historical background: From ancient times tikuli/bindi is an integral part of Indian women's attire. It was made of molten glass after blowing to a thin sheet. Firstly, the sheet is cut according to the required size before placing a gold foil on it and tracing the design patterns in natural colours. These bindis were popular during the Mughal era. However, after the end of the Mughal era, Britishers introduced machine-made bindis which were cheaper. Later on, the enactment of the Gold Act after India's Independence made it difficult for artisans to use gold as in earlier times. Many people left work as artificial bindis had become more popular owing to their affordability.

Culture and Societies: The credit for bringing back the art goes to 'Upendra Maharathi', one of the artisans of tikuli kala. His Japan tour gave him a perspective on how Japanese people showcase their local art forms to the world. This visit showed him the path of reviving the tikuli art. He replaced the medium of Tikuli art. The traditional glass base got replaced by a board to make the painting easy to learn. This art form is of considerable cultural value and has a vast heritage attached to it. This art form mostly depicts women which can be seen as a way to empower female artists.

Religious significance: Hinduism and the storytelling of their epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata have a huge hold on the thematic concept of these paintings. They paint the mythologies about Krishna-Lila, marriages, festivals, and their day-to-day activities as well. However, after the revival, modern Tikuli art is mostly made for commercial purposes rather than religious significance.

Central motifs and their significance: Importance is given to recreating visual representations of Hindu epics and creating paintings on Krishna Lila. Other motifs that are painted are trees, leaves, flowers, and water bodies.

Medium used: Initially, these paintings were made from sheets of molten glass, wherein the glass sheets were cut into rounds of different sizes which was undertaken by Muslim artists, later on, these sheets were passed on to Hindu artisans to add the tikulis made of gold foil. After women took over the production of these paintings, they resorted to using sharpened bamboo offshoots to trace patterns and linework after which they would fill in colours which were naturally extracted from various natural elements. The final step after this involved creating a layer of gond or adhesive on top of which tikulis were applied which were semi-precious colourful stones or crystals. Traditionally, squirrel and sable hair paintbrushes were used to create these artworks.

Style: These paintings work on contrasting colour themes. The artisans use bright colours like yellow, orange, red, and blue against a black background which makes the foreground of the painting pop. The characters or human figures are made extremely simplistic as per anatomy, but their facial features, clothes, and jewellery are given great detail and importance. These paintings have recurring elements of flora, human figures, animals, flowers, and water bodies; these elements are chosen based on what story they are reciting.

Process: The process that goes into making these detailed paintings involves around fifteen steps but they can be broken down into three simplified ones. First, the hardboard is cut according to the dimensions of the painting they sought to make, this also includes cutting the surface into different shapes such as a circle, triangle, rectangle, and square. The second step involves coating the hardboard with four to five layers of enamel, after every coat of enamel the board is smoothened with sandpaper, which gives it a polished look and makes it easier for it to paint over. The third and last step is to apply one final coat of enamel thereafter the designs are painted on and finished with decorating the final product with gold leafing semi-precious stones to highlight the jewellery.

In Tikuli, instead of the theme changing over time, the materials have changed drastically to fit the demand of the customer and the availability of raw materials. The store-bought enamel paints are currently used and the traditional timber hardboards have been replaced with MDF boards.

In contemporary times the scope of this art form is completely an open field. Items of home decor are made with the Tikuli art style and are not only sold in the Indian market spaces but internationally as well. This was made possible by the efforts of Tikuli artists such as Mr. Ashok Kumar Biswas, Sumitra Devi, Sandhiya Singh, and Aarti Kumari who are actively practising this art and contributing towards keeping the Tikuli art form alive.

1. Sinha, A. (2018) Bihar ke Kaljai Shilpkar - Classical Artists of Bihar. Patna: Upendra Maharathi Shilp Anusandhan Sansthan.