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About this tool
Explore Madhubani motifs and their meanings, then plan a panel layout with exact border, cell size and motif count.
Madhubani, or Mithila painting, builds a picture from named motifs — the lotus, the bamboo, paired fish, the guardian eyes — each of which carries a fixed meaning in the region's ritual practice. This explorer lists 27 motifs with their Maithili names, what each stands for, the occasion it belongs to and how it is normally drawn, alongside the six recognised styles from Bharni and Kachni to Godna and Kohbar. It also plans a panel: enter a sheet size, border width and grid, and it returns the exact cell measurements, the border's share of the sheet and a motif order for your occasion.
Open Madhubani Motif Explorer on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter Sheet width and height in cm, the Border band on each side, and the Rows and Columns of motifs, then choose an Occasion: Wedding kohbar, Festival panel, Household and threshold or Nature panel.
Read the size of each motif cell in cm, with the field inside the border, the cell aspect ratio, the border's share of the sheet and the running border length to draw.
Work down the motif order table — cell references from R1C1, each motif's name, its Maithili name and what it stands for — pressing Reshuffle for another order, or filter the 27-motif reference by theme and style.
Every motif entry says what it signifies in Mithila practice and which occasion it belongs to.
Cell width and height come from the sheet size minus the border, so the grid fits before you draw it.
Each motif lists which of the six Madhubani styles it traditionally suits.
The lotus, purain in Maithili, represents the female principle and fertility, and sits at the centre of the kohbar panel painted for a newly married couple. It is always paired with bamboo, bans, which stands for the male principle and the continuity of the family line; neither is complete without the other.
Six are usually named: Bharni, where bold outlines are filled solidly with colour; Kachni, built from fine hatched lines with little fill; Godna, based on tattoo patterns and developed as a painting style in the 1970s; Tantrik, which treats deities symbolically; Kohbar, the nuptial chamber composition; and Gobar, painted over a cow-dung and mud ground.
Pigments were made from what was to hand: lamp soot for black, turmeric for yellow, kusum or palash flowers for red and orange, indigo or fermented sem leaves for blue, bilva leaves for green and rice paste for white. The exact hue varied with the plant and the season, which is why traditional work is described by source rather than by a fixed colour value.
Studying and drawing from the tradition is how it has always been passed on, but it is a living practice belonging to named artists in the Mithila region. Credit the tradition, do not reproduce a specific signed composition, and where the work is commercial, commission or buy from Mithila artists rather than copying.