Bihar Artists

Bihar is best known for Madhubani painting, but its artists have also shaped Indian classical music, folk theatre and Hindi cinema.

Painting

Mithila or Madhubani painting, once drawn by women on the walls of their homes for weddings and festivals, is now known worldwide. Painters such as Sita Devi, Ganga Devi, Mahasundari Devi, Baua Devi and Dulari Devi received the Padma Shri for it. Bihar also has Manjusha painting from Bhagalpur, Tikuli art from Patna and Sikki grass craft from north Bihar.

Music and theatre

The shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan was born in Dumraon in Bihar. The late Sharda Sinha's songs for Chhath and weddings are sung in every Bhojpuri and Maithili home, and Bhikhari Thakur's Bidesiya plays, about the families left behind by men who went away to work, made him the best-known writer of Bhojpuri theatre.

Cinema

Actors from Bihar include Shatrughan Sinha from Patna, Manoj Bajpayee from West Champaran and Pankaj Tripathi from Gopalganj.

Sources

• Bihar Tourism: Department of Tourism, Government of Bihar
• Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre: Kolkata (Ministry of Culture)
• Padma Awards: the official list of Padma award winners (Government of India)
• Lalit Kala Akademi: India's national academy of fine arts (Ministry of Culture)