Madhubani Sujani Kantha Embroidery Women Bihar

Sujani is a Bihar embroidery tradition practised in Madhubani and Bhojpur districts where women stitch narrative scenes from local folk tales, the Ramayana, and community life onto layered old saris and cloth using running stitch (kantha) to create dense pictorial quilts used for sleeping and ceremony. The Sujani revival was spearheaded by the late artisan and activist Shanti Devi of Bhusura village in Madhubani who transformed the domestic bedding tradition into an artisan craft by adding colour embroidery threads and developing narrative designs documenting village women's lives for sale to craft collectors. Sujani quilts from Madhubani are sold through Bihar handicraft cooperative and have been exhibited internationally as feminist folk art documenting rural women's social experiences.