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Crafts / Kolam & Rangoli

Kolam & Rangoli

State
Tamil Nadu
Material
Rice flour · Colour powder
Rarity
Popular

A drawing made fresh every morning, meant to be walked over

About

Symmetrical rice-flour drawings around a grid of dots at the doorstep of South Indian homes, and colourful rangoli at festivals.

Kolam is a traditional floor drawing made with rice flour, which in Tamil Nadu is drawn at the front of the house every day. It is a geometric line drawing made of straight lines, curves and loops around a grid of dots, called pulli. Kolam is also called muggu in Telugu and rangole in Kannada. Rangoli is the wider, pan-Indian term for floor patterns made at the entrance of the home, usually in coloured powders, flower petals or coloured rice, and mostly for festivals such as Diwali, Onam and Pongal.

In Tamil Nadu, millions of women draw kolam each day before dawn, though men and boys also practise it. The knowledge is passed down orally from mother to daughter, by watching and doing. Special, larger kolams are made on festival days and for weddings, and colours are often added.

The purpose of a kolam is more than decoration. It welcomes guests and the goddess Lakshmi, marks the threshold, and, drawn in coarse rice flour, feeds ants and birds. The drawings are walked over and washed away, and a new one is drawn the next day.

How it’s made

Making a kolam begins with a clean surface. Before sunrise, the entrance is swept and sprinkled with water so the ground is flat and slightly damp, which helps the powder hold. In some homes the floor is first wiped with cow dung, which gives a contrast with the white powder.

The drawer takes a pinch of rice flour, kolam podi, between the thumb and forefinger and lets it run out in a steady line. A typical kolam begins with a grid of dots, pulli. Lines are then drawn around, between and through the dots, looping to enclose them in symmetrical patterns of squares, diamonds, flowers and stars. Free-hand kolams without dots are also made. Designs range from simple daily patterns to elaborate festival designs.

Rangoli uses the same principles but makes use of more colour. Coloured powders, coloured rice or sand, flower petals, or crushed stone are laid out in an outline filled with colour. Festival designs show lamps, lotuses, footprints, kalash pots and sugarcane, for occasions such as Deepavali, Janmashtami and Pongal. Nowadays chalk, stone powder or synthetic colours are also used.

Key features

  • Drawn with rice flour pinched between thumb and forefinger
  • Geometric line drawings around a grid of dots (pulli)
  • Drawn by women each day before dawn at the threshold
  • Special, larger designs with colour for festivals
  • Rice flour feeds ants and birds, and welcomes guests and Lakshmi
  • Called muggu in Telugu, rangole in Kannada, rangoli in much of India
  • Passed on orally from mother to daughter

History

Floor decoration at the threshold has been a part of Indian homes for a long time, but the history of kolam in its present form is not very old. One scholar of Tamil culture has suggested that decorating the floor in this way may go back about six hundred years, and the earliest text reference is in a thirteenth-century inscription about the duties of temple women. Similar floor arts exist across India under other names: rangoli in Maharashtra, aripan in Mithila, alpona in West Bengal, mandana in Rajasthan, aipan in Uttarakhand and pookkalam in Kerala.

The word rangoli comes from the Sanskrit rangavalli, from ranga, meaning colour. Rangoli was historically drawn on bare mud floors, often with a layer of cow dung, to mark a clean and welcoming entrance, and the white powder of limestone or rice flour was believed to keep insects away or to feed them.

The tradition is carried forward by women across generations, and today it also reaches new forms: competition kolams, kolam on cloth and paper, and stick-on decals, and sometimes a hotel lobby decorated with a rangoli. Many people still draw a fresh kolam each morning, since it is both a household duty and a source of pride.

Facts

  • Pulli A grid of dots. A kolam is typically drawn around a grid of dots called pulli. The lines loop and join around the dots to make symmetric patterns.
  • Before dawn Drawn every morning. In Tamil Nadu women draw kolam each day before dawn, after sweeping the entrance and sprinkling it with water.
  • For ants and birds More than decoration. Kolams were traditionally drawn in coarse rice flour so that ants and birds could eat it, as a way of feeding other creatures.
  • Many names Floor art across India. The same kind of floor art is called muggu, rangoli, alpona, aripan, mandana, aipan and pookkalam in different regions.

Market

Mostly a home tradition, with new forms

Kolam and rangoli are mainly a household practice and are not usually sold, but they appear in stencils, kolam colour powders, sticker decals, rangoli stamps and kits, and as designs on notebooks, cloth and home decor. Competitions and festivals promote the art. Buying powders made from natural colours and rice flour keeps the practice close to tradition.

Sustainability

Food for ants and a clean-slate art

Traditional kolam is made of rice flour and is meant to be eaten by ants and birds and washed away, so it leaves no waste. Plastic decals and synthetic glitter colours do not have this property, so choosing rice flour or flower petals is kinder to the environment.

Products

  • Rice-flour kolam: The daily drawing at the doorstep
  • Festival rangoli: Coloured powder, rice and petal designs for Diwali, Onam and Pongal
  • Flower rangoli (pookkalam): Designs made entirely of flower petals
  • Kolam stencils and colour powders: Tools that help in drawing designs
  • Kolam on paper and cloth: Designs drawn in notebooks, cards and textiles

Words to know

  • Kolam: The rice-flour floor drawing of Tamil Nadu.
  • Pulli: The grid of dots around which a kolam is drawn.
  • Kolam podi: Fine rice flour used to draw kolam.
  • Muggu: The Telugu name for kolam.
  • Rangoli: The pan-Indian term for floor art made at entrances, especially at festivals.
  • Pookkalam: A flower carpet made on the floor, especially in Kerala during Onam.

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