Contemporary madhubani (mithila) painting was born in the early 1960’s, following the terrible Bihar famine when women of the town of Madhubani took up the art as a means of livelihood. Although, some say that this style originated at the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak commissioned artists to paint at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, to Lord Ram. The art was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud wall of huts, but now done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas. The art stands out as being extremely intricate and detail oriented with vibrant colors.