Manjusha Art

Manjushas are an Indian art form. They are temple-shaped boxes comprising eight pillars. They are made of bamboo, jute and paper. They also contains paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses and other characters. These boxes are used in Bishahari puja, a festival dedicated to the Snake God that is celebrated in Bhagalpur and nearby regions, India.

Manjusha art is the folk art of Ang region which is based on Folklore of Bihula-Bishari. Ang region in modern era known as Bhagalpur. It is one of the popular art form of Bihar.

Manjusha art is believed to be the only art form in the history of art form in India which has a sequential representation of the story and is displayed in a series. This is also called a scroll painting.

Manjusha art or Angika art originated in Anga Pradesh (Present Day Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) which was used in Bihula-Vishahri Pooja, celebrated usually in August to please snake gods (Nag).

Manjusha art is a folk art of Bhagalpur, Bihar, and has been dated back to the 7th century.

Legends says that five daughters of Lord Shiva, Maina, Bhawani, Devi, Padma and Jaya known as Bishahari (meaning "person carrying poison") requested to worship earth. There request was granted by Shiva in the form of the Bishahari festival.

Manjusha art is the folk art of "Angpradesh", Ang region which is currently known as Bhagalpur in Bihar State.

This art was earlier done by only two families the Kumbhakar caste and the Malakar caste. The Kumbhakar caste used to make the pots on which the manjusa art is painted and wor- shipped during the festival. The Malakar caste makes the actual "manjushas" and paint the manjusa art on this structures.There is another caste called the Kashira caste, they used to make the pots out of "peetal"/brass. There are only two families left who still practice this art.

Earlier the Pandit family Cheddhi and Basant Pandit used to make the manjusa art for the temple, for this service all their expenses were taken care of by the village.

This art has been prevalent in Bhagalpur for a long time but between 1931–48, it was brought to the forefront. In this period during the British rule, an ICS officer by name W.G.Archer and his wife started finding out more about Madhubani painting and Manjusha art.He fell in love with the art form . W.G.Archer put a collection together of Manjusa art and had an exhibition in The India Office Library in London which became part of the Archer Collection. It was at this time that Manjusa art gained international recognition.But at that time due to the British rule the artisans could not flourish. After this golden period, Manjusa art seemed to be fading away in the background and was being practiced only by some people. In 1984 the Bihar government made an intitative called "Jansampoorna Vibagh" in which they went to the villages of Bhagalpur and showed them slideshows of Manjusa art and educated people about this traditional art form in the hope of reviving it.

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