Dulari Devi
A Madhubani painter from the Mallah community who learned the art while working as a domestic help in an artist's home, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2021.
Dulari Devi is a painter and illustrator from Bihar who works in the Madhubani, or Mithila, tradition. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of art, from Bihar [1].
Learning on the job
Dulari Devi was born on 27 December 1965 into the Mallah community, a marginalised fishing caste, and had no formal schooling [2]. She learned to draw and paint in the Madhubani style while working as a domestic help in the home of the Madhubani artist Mahasundari Devi [2]. Mahasundari Devi introduced her to another artist, Karpoori Devi, who also taught her the art and its techniques [2].
Walls, paper and silk
Besides painting walls, she paints on handmade paper, silk saris and canvas [2]. She has travelled to states including Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana and Tamil Nadu to paint Mithila murals, and teaches the art through the Mithila Kala Sansthan [2]. She has shown her work at exhibitions of the Bihar Lalit Kala Akademi, the Surajkund international crafts fair and other venues [2].
In 2011 Tara Books published Following My Paint Brush, her life story told in pictures [2].
Honours
She was recognised by the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1999, by Bihar’s directorate of cultural affairs in 1995 and by the Bihar Chetna Samiti in 2011, and received the Bihar government’s state award in 2012–13 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2021: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2021: citation for Dulari Devi — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
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