Godna takes its name and its grammar from godna, the traditional tattooing of Mithila’s women. Developed within Dalit (Dusadh) communities, it builds images from rhythmic, repeated motifs — rows of figures, plants and animals — often in restrained earth tones, and frequently tells the stories of the folk-hero Raja Salhesh.
For long excluded from the more celebrated styles, Godna artists claimed Madhubani on their own terms and won wide recognition; the husband-and-wife artists Shanti and Shivan Paswan, honoured with the Padma Shri, have trained thousands in the form. Godna is a reminder that Mithila’s art belongs to its whole society, and that new voices keep renewing it.