Ritual Art of the Kingdom of Mithila- Traditional Paintings by Janakpur Women in Nepal

About the Book Over the millennia, a still vibrant school of painting has been handed down in the female line in what used to be the ancient Kingdom of Mithila. Janakpur, located in the Terai region in southern Nepal, is thought to have been the capital of the kingdom of Mithila from its foundation.

The paintings have the purpose of attracting the deity's presence during the celebrations in his or her honour and a blessing on the family members of the house where they are painted.

liminalia is a light editorial formula dealing with visual anthropology and anthropology of art in the field of oriental studies. Fragments of thoughts, ink and images, intentionally placed in a borderline.

About the Author Alessandra Campoli (Rome Italy, 1976), art historian, is specialist in iconography and iconology and anthropology of art. Since 2005 she has been the director of the Ev-K2-CNR's project "Aesthetics of the body. Performance and religion in the Himalayas".

On the field of Southern Asian studies she is the author of La Montagna Divina. Iconografia e mito (Vajra Publications Ev-K2 CNR Publications, Kathmandu, 2007) and Chintamani: il gioiello degli dei, in S. Macioce (editor), "Ori nell'arte" (Logart Press, Rome, 2007).

**Contents and Sample Pages**