सुजनी / गोदना (Sujani / Godna)
Maithili embroidery encompasses two distinct traditions of the Mithila cultural zone of Nepal's southern Terai: sujani (quilted narrative embroidery) and godna (body tattoo-inspired embroidery). Sujani is layered old cotton cloths stitched together with running stitch embroidery depicting scenes from daily life, mythology, and nature — the stitching is the structural quilting AND the decoration simultaneously. Godna embroidery reproduces the traditional tattoo patterns (also called godna) of Dusadh caste women as embroidery motifs on cloth — the tattoo pattern vocabulary (fish, sun, scorpion, tree) transferred from skin to textile. The defining sujani technical knowledge is the running stitch grid system: all sujani stitching runs in one direction only (horizontal), building the image from horizontal stitch rows — not diagonally or in outline as in most embroidery.
Risk level: Endangered · Nepal national ICH list; related to Mithila UNESCO inscription (2023)
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