Mandana

Mandana painting is a folk painting of Rajasthan. One of the several styles of Indian painting, Mandana is mostly practiced by women in the villages in the Tonk and Sawai Madhopur region of Rajasthan to welcome gods and goddesses into houses and bring prosperity and protect their homes. They paint pictures on the walls of the mud houses and on the floor through the use of lime or chalk powder and geru (red ochre). Before drawing pictures, the floors and walls of the houses are plastered with by mixing local clay from the pond with cow-dung.

The painting tools used by the painters are a piece of cotton or soft cloth, a tuft of hair and a brush.

Mandana paintings mostly depict Hindu gods and goddesses and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Ganesha. Various forms of birds, animals, humans are also painted.

Some of the most popular motifs that are painted are peacocks, tigers and elephants.

These Mandana paintings are usually made on the eve of religious festivals like Diwali and auspicious ceremonies like marriage, birth of child. The art is passed to the next generation from the older one.