Khatwa is Mithila’s appliqué craft: shapes cut from coloured cloth — animals, birds, the tree of life, sweeping geometric borders — and stitched onto a contrasting ground to build bold, flat designs. Traditionally it clothed the great ceremonial tents and canopies (shamiana) of weddings and festivals, where its big, legible motifs could be read across a crowded courtyard.
Where Sujani works its imagery in fine embroidery, Khatwa works in the scissors and the patch — a complementary textile language of the same Mithila imagination. Today it lives on in wall-hangings, cushion covers and decorative panels, carrying the region’s motifs into the modern home.