Text compiled by Meeta Surana
Lakhi Chand Jain, mandanagrapher, scholar and artist, talks about the art of mandana. Here, he shares his thoughts and tries to finds new eyes and mindset to celebrate every bit of creation.
Tell us about yourself.
Myself Lakhi Chand Jain, I am graduate in applied arts, and by profession I am associated with different discipline of the designs as a creative head. However I am firmly pledged with the mandana, which I learnt this art from my grandmother (Late) Smt. Ratan bai and mother Smt. Shakuntala bai. This form of folk arts I acknowledged as a treasure from my grandmother.
Tell us about yourself.
Myself Lakhi Chand Jain, I am graduate in applied arts, and by profession I am associated with different discipline of the designs as a creative head. However I am firmly pledged with the mandana, which I learnt this art from my grandmother (Late) Smt. Ratan bai and mother Smt. Shakuntala bai. This form of folk arts I acknowledged as a treasure from my grandmother.
**
Tell us something about the mandana art.
Mandana- is a one of the Indian style of folk painting that is reflecting a sign of our traditional artistic ability and inspired belief. It is a unique form of painting that graces homes on festive and auspicious days as well as the beginning of winter, planting season, at harvest time and before summer. Traditionally it is depicting as a sign of prayer, beauty and joy as well as erases the negative energy from homes. This art form takes shapes on the walls of mud houses, floor and in the courtyards. Traditional mandana are characteristically different from other folk styles like kohbar, jhoti or chita, pithoora and warli. It doesn’t have a storyline. So, all the motifs playing and flowing freely on the surface of mud wall and floors through simply white colour.
How did you tag to mandana?
My family is belonging from Rajasthan. Over 100-125 years ago there was a great famine in Rajasthan, and my ancestors travelled to Maharashtra in search of livelihood. They settled in Pahur in Jalgaon district, a tiny village nestled on the bank of the Waghur River, which starts as a tiny stream from the Ajanta Mountains. They brought with them memories, many things of their life-style, culture and traditions. I was born in this village and my early childhood spent in an earthen house.
I remember that every year after the festivity of Navratri- Dussehra, my grandmother and mother started preparation of Diwali (festival of light). My earthen house was not so huge and the brick walls were plastered with clay. So that reason every year, at the festival days, my grandmother and mother would apply of gaara (a mixture of clay and dung) to repair the walls. After the plastering work was done, all the walls of the house were painted by usage of powder and particle based colour like peeli mitti (yellow ochre soil), neela (blue) or gulaabi (Pink). That time neela and gulaabi colours were also available in the form of small particles; first of all they were soak in water, then the ready dark colour; khadiya (paste of limestone/chalk) and paste of sabudana (tapioca sago) they were mix up into the water. Once the particular colour hue desired, the wall were paint with help of piece of cotton cloth.
After drying of the painted walls, the entire floor was coated with cow dung. Areas where the mandana was to be painted would be coated with the mixture of geru (terracotta red earthen colour) and paste of sabudana. My grandmother and mother sat up at night to make the mandana. I used to lie with my head in my grandmother’s lap and wonder what she was doing. She would tell me old stories related to the mandana. She encouraged me to learn the mandana and when I was eight years old, she handed me a unique brush in my hand to draw the mandana. This brush was made from turaati (stem of tuvar plant, harvested plant of pigeon pea) with cotton stuck covered on one end. Initially, I learned to draw mandana with crooked lines.
What kindled you about the mandana?
Mandana is a very simple form of art. I love its simplicity-crisscross, straight, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved lines, dots, unevenness and boldness of forms, which touch my heart, and keep me joyful. White color helps to relieve stress, which gives me a unique energy. I enjoy creating it. Mandana is in my breath, and it helps me express myself.
What are the different sorts of mandana that you carry out?
Traditionally mandana is customs done only on the floor, wall of kachcha mud houses and in the courtyards. It was not feasible to transplant slab of mud walls or floor surfaces. So, I adapted mandana from the traditional floors to canvas. I inscribed it on canvas and Kraft papers to express myself.
I firmly believe in the existence of eternal spiritual energy. When I’m completely in the state of meditation, everything around me; elements and objects connected to nature- can be seen in the manner of mandana. I paint on canvas those forms which appear me in a state of meditation. I loves’ the forms of Trees, flora n’ fauna, peacocks, roosters, parakeets, horse, cow-bulls, snakes, tortoise-bees, butterfly’s, their attitudes, body language, fly’s and gait.
I have explored so many new mandana forms and created a series of mandana paintings based on the household objects and childhood sports. Due to the urbanization these elements are rapid-ly disappearing from our day-to-day’s activities, they don’t have any value in today’s fast and modern lifestyle. But still it’s travelling with me as a shadow of childhood nostalgia.
What is your inspiration?
Nature is my inspiration. I get a distinct energy from nature. When I live with nature, that time I see it emerge in the form of mandana.
What is the process of your mandanagraph?
First I transform the forms that appear to me in the state of meditation into sketches on paper, and then I paint them on canvas or craft paper. I paint the mandana with a mixture of khadiya (paste of lime stone/chalk) and other powder-glue based natural pigment and ingredients or white poster and acrylic colour.
Do you have taken any efforts to restore this art form?
Today the original folk forms, and the core of the mandana art are impossible to achieve and conservation. For so many years I have been created so many mandanas in folk and in traditional as well as contemporary style. I have done documentation, research and tried to restore this art by using traditional ways and modern tools and technology.
I was creating so many mandana based designs & innovative ideas to develop the souvenir for Hi-fashion labels, also many workshops organized for fashion and design students in a bid to re-vive the mandana tradition with modern means.
Incidentally, “The word mandana is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Mandan’, which means ‘to invent' or ‘to explore’. In changing scenario to create an interest and appealing to the masses about the mandana, and need of sustainability of art and artisans. I use different types of canvas, and explore different new media- but it is not an attempt to be diverse from the art or not parting with tradition.”
Do you have loves among natural colours and eco-friendly recycled materials? Do you have to keeping purity and a folk intact of mandana in your composition?
Yes, really I love very much, the natural colours like geru, peeli mitti, hirmich and khadiya. Since past centuries, these natural ingredients are used as a colour in mandana. Traditional mandana paints only by the khadiya. So, I have been using khadiya and similar type of medium to paint the mandana on canvas and eco-friendly recycled Kraft paper. Also I am using natural ingredients and pigments for my mandana paintings to keep the originality and folk intact of art. Simplicity, irregularity and boldness of lines, it is the characteristics of mandana. Therefore I have keeping same intact, beauty and simplicity of lines and forms in my mandana compositions. I tried to keep purity, highness and the sacred of mandana through my every creation.
Where we can learn mandana?
Mandana is not taught in any fine art or design school in India, and there is no syllabus. Till date, the tradition of mandana is passed down from one generation to another generation. If anybody really wants to learn the mandana art, they must go into the villages of remote areas where it is fashioned and learn there. If student from different design fields study this art, they will get a new vision and knowledge of how to apply the design principle, simplicity of designs, symmetry, asymmetry, and design esthetic.
Many of youth-teenagers from different discipline of art and design have come and ask to me for learning this folk painting. That time, I tell them, first they need to prepare mentally and physically to work with gobar-mitti (cow dung-soil), as they hesitate. Only when you can do that, you are ready to learn. It’s a classical art form, and you need to do riyaaz (practice done on a regular basis) to learn this on floor, then paper and then canvas.
Finally, tell us briefly concerning to the mandana and its future?
This art is closely related to the science of vastu, beauty, holy charms and spiritualism, etc. It is very necessary to go right into the depth of this art and its symbolism…in order to understand its soul. However, this folk art has taken a severe beating due to the fact that today, we do not have those old earthen homes, mud walls, court yards and verandas to sanctify, decorate and spot this unique art. As village culture vanishes, mandana will fade out from our lives.
Mandana- is a one of the Indian style of folk painting that is reflecting a sign of our traditional artistic ability and inspired belief. It is a unique form of painting that graces homes on festive and auspicious days as well as the beginning of winter, planting season, at harvest time and before summer. Traditionally it is depicting as a sign of prayer, beauty and joy as well as erases the negative energy from homes. This art form takes shapes on the walls of mud houses, floor and in the courtyards. Traditional mandana are characteristically different from other folk styles like kohbar, jhoti or chita, pithoora and warli. It doesn’t have a storyline. So, all the motifs playing and flowing freely on the surface of mud wall and floors through simply white colour.
How did you tag to mandana?
My family is belonging from Rajasthan. Over 100-125 years ago there was a great famine in Rajasthan, and my ancestors travelled to Maharashtra in search of livelihood. They settled in Pahur in Jalgaon district, a tiny village nestled on the bank of the Waghur River, which starts as a tiny stream from the Ajanta Mountains. They brought with them memories, many things of their life-style, culture and traditions. I was born in this village and my early childhood spent in an earthen house.
I remember that every year after the festivity of Navratri- Dussehra, my grandmother and mother started preparation of Diwali (festival of light). My earthen house was not so huge and the brick walls were plastered with clay. So that reason every year, at the festival days, my grandmother and mother would apply of gaara (a mixture of clay and dung) to repair the walls. After the plastering work was done, all the walls of the house were painted by usage of powder and particle based colour like peeli mitti (yellow ochre soil), neela (blue) or gulaabi (Pink). That time neela and gulaabi colours were also available in the form of small particles; first of all they were soak in water, then the ready dark colour; khadiya (paste of limestone/chalk) and paste of sabudana (tapioca sago) they were mix up into the water. Once the particular colour hue desired, the wall were paint with help of piece of cotton cloth.
After drying of the painted walls, the entire floor was coated with cow dung. Areas where the mandana was to be painted would be coated with the mixture of geru (terracotta red earthen colour) and paste of sabudana. My grandmother and mother sat up at night to make the mandana. I used to lie with my head in my grandmother’s lap and wonder what she was doing. She would tell me old stories related to the mandana. She encouraged me to learn the mandana and when I was eight years old, she handed me a unique brush in my hand to draw the mandana. This brush was made from turaati (stem of tuvar plant, harvested plant of pigeon pea) with cotton stuck covered on one end. Initially, I learned to draw mandana with crooked lines.
What kindled you about the mandana?
Mandana is a very simple form of art. I love its simplicity-crisscross, straight, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved lines, dots, unevenness and boldness of forms, which touch my heart, and keep me joyful. White color helps to relieve stress, which gives me a unique energy. I enjoy creating it. Mandana is in my breath, and it helps me express myself.
What are the different sorts of mandana that you carry out?
Traditionally mandana is customs done only on the floor, wall of kachcha mud houses and in the courtyards. It was not feasible to transplant slab of mud walls or floor surfaces. So, I adapted mandana from the traditional floors to canvas. I inscribed it on canvas and Kraft papers to express myself.
I firmly believe in the existence of eternal spiritual energy. When I’m completely in the state of meditation, everything around me; elements and objects connected to nature- can be seen in the manner of mandana. I paint on canvas those forms which appear me in a state of meditation. I loves’ the forms of Trees, flora n’ fauna, peacocks, roosters, parakeets, horse, cow-bulls, snakes, tortoise-bees, butterfly’s, their attitudes, body language, fly’s and gait.
I have explored so many new mandana forms and created a series of mandana paintings based on the household objects and childhood sports. Due to the urbanization these elements are rapid-ly disappearing from our day-to-day’s activities, they don’t have any value in today’s fast and modern lifestyle. But still it’s travelling with me as a shadow of childhood nostalgia.
What is your inspiration?
Nature is my inspiration. I get a distinct energy from nature. When I live with nature, that time I see it emerge in the form of mandana.
What is the process of your mandanagraph?
First I transform the forms that appear to me in the state of meditation into sketches on paper, and then I paint them on canvas or craft paper. I paint the mandana with a mixture of khadiya (paste of lime stone/chalk) and other powder-glue based natural pigment and ingredients or white poster and acrylic colour.
Do you have taken any efforts to restore this art form?
Today the original folk forms, and the core of the mandana art are impossible to achieve and conservation. For so many years I have been created so many mandanas in folk and in traditional as well as contemporary style. I have done documentation, research and tried to restore this art by using traditional ways and modern tools and technology.
I was creating so many mandana based designs & innovative ideas to develop the souvenir for Hi-fashion labels, also many workshops organized for fashion and design students in a bid to re-vive the mandana tradition with modern means.
Incidentally, “The word mandana is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Mandan’, which means ‘to invent' or ‘to explore’. In changing scenario to create an interest and appealing to the masses about the mandana, and need of sustainability of art and artisans. I use different types of canvas, and explore different new media- but it is not an attempt to be diverse from the art or not parting with tradition.”
Do you have loves among natural colours and eco-friendly recycled materials? Do you have to keeping purity and a folk intact of mandana in your composition?
Yes, really I love very much, the natural colours like geru, peeli mitti, hirmich and khadiya. Since past centuries, these natural ingredients are used as a colour in mandana. Traditional mandana paints only by the khadiya. So, I have been using khadiya and similar type of medium to paint the mandana on canvas and eco-friendly recycled Kraft paper. Also I am using natural ingredients and pigments for my mandana paintings to keep the originality and folk intact of art. Simplicity, irregularity and boldness of lines, it is the characteristics of mandana. Therefore I have keeping same intact, beauty and simplicity of lines and forms in my mandana compositions. I tried to keep purity, highness and the sacred of mandana through my every creation.
Where we can learn mandana?
Mandana is not taught in any fine art or design school in India, and there is no syllabus. Till date, the tradition of mandana is passed down from one generation to another generation. If anybody really wants to learn the mandana art, they must go into the villages of remote areas where it is fashioned and learn there. If student from different design fields study this art, they will get a new vision and knowledge of how to apply the design principle, simplicity of designs, symmetry, asymmetry, and design esthetic.
Many of youth-teenagers from different discipline of art and design have come and ask to me for learning this folk painting. That time, I tell them, first they need to prepare mentally and physically to work with gobar-mitti (cow dung-soil), as they hesitate. Only when you can do that, you are ready to learn. It’s a classical art form, and you need to do riyaaz (practice done on a regular basis) to learn this on floor, then paper and then canvas.
Finally, tell us briefly concerning to the mandana and its future?
This art is closely related to the science of vastu, beauty, holy charms and spiritualism, etc. It is very necessary to go right into the depth of this art and its symbolism…in order to understand its soul. However, this folk art has taken a severe beating due to the fact that today, we do not have those old earthen homes, mud walls, court yards and verandas to sanctify, decorate and spot this unique art. As village culture vanishes, mandana will fade out from our lives.