Kolams

KOLAMS: (Tamil: கோலம் kõlaṁ)

A Kolam is a sort of painted prayer — a line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. It is a form of sandpainting that is drawn using rice powder by female members of the family in front of their homes. It is widely practised by Hindus in South India. The Kolam structure naturally lends itself to a rich artistic expression. Indeed, the word ‘Kolam’ itself suggests ‘beauty’. It has certain fascinating mathematical properties, as well as a sacred cosmology associated with its construction. Cultural development of Rangoli in the South originated in the era of the Chola Rulers. But some texts say that the colorful Kolam tradition dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization (2500 B.C).

For hundreds of years, Indian women have passed to their daughters the knowledge of the ritual wall and ground paintings and decorations of the home that function as messages to the deities for the health and well-being of Indian families. Some ground paintings are daily rituals, made every morning at dawn, while wall paintings and mud bas-reliefs are often made for special festivals to honor the deities and attract their benevolent attentions. It is the women of India who are responsible for communication with the Gods on behalf of their families, governing the activities of family members, and maintaining the sanctity and order of the home.

PURPOSE: Kolams are thought to bestow prosperity to homes. Every morning in southern India, millions of women draw kolams on the ground with white rice powder. Through the day, the drawings get walked on, rained out, or blown around in the wind; new ones are made the next day. Every morning before sunrise, the floor is cleaned with water, the universal purifier, and the muddy floor is swept well for an even surface. The kolams are generally drawn while the surface is still damp so that it is held better. Occasionally, cow-dung is also used to wax the floors. Cow dung has antiseptic properties and hence provides a literal threshold of protection for the home. It also provides contrast with the white powder. The spaces where they are drawn are wiped clean and purified by the adornment of the kolam. Though this practice is not continued in big towns and cities, one can see it in the remote villages and interior places.

In the south, the graceful white kolam, patterned like openwork lace, adorn the entrances to homes and household shrines. Kolam is drawn every morning using pinches of finely ground rice flour held between the thumb and forefinger, released in a steady and continuous flow. As the lines swirl and intersect, small focused patterns emerge, which are repeated and elaborated over an expanding space, building to a large circle or hexagon. The kolam, is produced in units of sub-patterns that can fill any given size of space. This need for such precision for something that has to be destroyed and created anew the next day seems paradoxical. The kolams are erased during the course of the day by passers-by, visitors and household members, only to be created anew the following morning. Tomorrow, a new movement, a new pattern, a new kolam. This daily ritual is integral to the significance of this art form and is layered with meaning.

 The tamil speaking and mostly malayalam speaking(Palghat, Trichur and Eranakulam) Brahmin community have a specific pattern of rangoli that has to be put for festivals and functions. It is called "Padi Kolam" or like in my place we call it  "Naalu moola padkku".This is a must. The centre part of the kolam will have 2,4,6 ,etc. even number lines (lines look wavy) forming a straight square. Then designs are created all around it and can be made bigger. Now there are no hard and fast rules for  these extra designs that surround the square. It is left to the artist's imagination. These kolams are first drawn with wet rice flour and after it dries the red kaavi is added to border the kolam and make it look brighter. The white denotes Shiva and the red kaavi, Shakthi.

 The Vaishnavaite tamil speaking brahmin community have the same rules except that the lines that form the squre are bent. One can see these types of kolams in agraharams around the srirangam temple in trichy.

Previously the kolam was drawn only with rice flour. This was done so that crows, squirrels, ants may all eat the rice flour from the kolam. This is supposed to be one of the “Pancha Maha yagnas” which form the daily duties of a Hindu and is called “Bhuta Yagna” which is intended to create in man the spirit of sharing with all living beings.  The most common understanding has been that the idea of using rice flour  is to provide food for ants, insects and small birds. If that is the case, what's stopping men from participating in this noble deed? When i did not find an answer, a common sense reasoning is that women have traditionally carried the burden of maintaining the home and the kolam ritual automatically became a part of the women's domain. It is seen as a key ritual that helps them improve their concentration and patience, two key components needed to run a household!

  The kolam is a freehand drawing and a traditional form of art. These designs are believed to produce positive cosmic forces which will improve the lives of people who dwell in the house. We can also interpret it in the modern context as a sign of welcome to all the people who come to the house. They denote a prayer  "let there be happiness and cheerfulness when anybody steps into the house". It is supposed to prevent undesirable elements from entering the house. This is specially taken care of by the 'red kaavi' lines drawn along the white kolam. The red kaavi lines are supposed to block the negative energy, thus the white kolam surrounded by red kaavi lines separates the auspicious, pure, protected and safe world of the home from the inauspicious, impure, unprotected and dangerous world of the outside. For important occasions and pujaas, it is customary to soak raw rice, grind fine and draw kolam with it. When it becomes dry, it sparkles invitingly supported by red kaavi.

 There are many intricate kolams. Completing them successfully needs a lot of concentration and patience. This gives a good training to our minds that whatever the situations in life, we must learn to emerge out of them smoothly and tactfully.

All over India, floor paintings are essentially white in color. White is a symbol of peace, purity and tranquility. The material used is rice flour or rice paste, because rice to all Indians is a sign of prosperity. Yet another symbol of prosperity is the color yellow. Turmeric yellow or ocher is also often used to fill in the white outlines. More often however, vermilion is used. Vermilion, is considered auspicious. Also used are pea green and rust brown. The patterns range between geometric and mathematical line drawings around a matrix of dots to free form art work and closed shapes. 

Kolam is an impressive mood analyzer of a woman who does all the chores of their house hold routines. It reflects the personality of the woman who draws the kolam. Kolam is a mark of good housekeeping and order, and show dedication to the family. Balance of dots and loops, lines and curves in kolams give women the inner balance that sometimes life denies them. It used to be a matter of pride to be able to draw large complicated patterns without lifting the hand off the floor standing up in between. In Brahma Muhurtha time (early morning 4.30 to 6), a lady steps out of the house with a bucket of water and some kolam powder in a shining tiffin box. Tucking in her tummy she bends over to create a profusion of dots and joins them with geometric precision by letting the rice powder run between her nimble fingers. Peacocks, lotus and circles emerge as the finishing piece. She arches her back for nearly an hour and smiles with satisfaction as she gives a final look at her creation. Drawing kolams improve concentration, focus, creativity and idea of symmetry.

 The month of Margazhi (Dhanur month) was eagerly awaited by young women, who would then showcase their skills by covering the entire width of the road with one big kolam. From 15th December to 15th January every year the period  known as Dhanur month (Margazhi) is the fag end of the night time for the Brahmma Logam. On or about 15th January, the Sun enters into Tropic of Capricorn which is known as Makara Sankaranthi in northern part of India and Pongal in Tamilnadu. This specific season, the kolams are largely visible at every house hold, shed and shelters. Any one traveling through rural Tamil Nadu during the months of December and January will be richly rewarded by the sight of a variety of patterns decorating the courtyards of even the humblest of homes. A lump of cow dung is placed at its centre , with a pumpkin flower which is a sign of fertility. There is surely another reason for drawing such larger artistic rangoli kolam on these days. When the star Sun transits through tropic of Capricorn, there are lots of changes taking place, viz. magnetical, tropical, climatic and many other changes that are unknown to the humans naked eye. Yesteryear persons knew, if not exactly all, at least a few; this knowledge made them  capture the available natural gifts in a useful method, namely Yantra form! These kolams done in an artistic way  in the front entrance of their homes, helped them to get some sort of positive energy, not only to the person who draws it but also the entire family.

The practice of drawing threshold designs may date back only 500 years but the geometrical patterns and symbols that are common across the various styles are ancient, and laden with specific meaning and spiritual undertones. These include, at their most abstract, the mandala, the sacred circle that represents the cosmos; mystic geometrical configurations called yantras that are the visual equivalent of the sacred prayers or mantras; and the complex symbolic cosmology of signs that evolved from Tantra, handwritten doctrines of faith that were laid down to achieve control over natural forces and the self. These symbols build into an infinite number of patterns, a visual language that is read by the viewer. Though there is a specific method and system existed in drawing such Kolams, that too with pure rice flour, these are a forgotten issue nowadays! The "nalvaravu", or welcoming kolam, is used to invite wedding guests into the home. Circular kolams are associated with the abode of the Gods, and are created to draw Lakshmi’s abundance to the home. Snake kolams are used to protect the house, and to purify the household members in mind and thought. Not all floor art is so reduced to abstraction, however. Motifs such as lotus flowers, birds and fish emphasise the oneness of man and nature. 

In Tamilnadu, during the month of kartigai(October/November), every tamil household who believe in tradition, make it a custom to lit mud lamps at the door step every evening. Before the lamps are lit, they adorn the place before the doorstep with beautiful kolams. This is believed to bring the blessings of Lord Muruga to the house.

The endearing floor drawing of the footprints of little Krishna walking into the house during Janmashtami are well known in Indian tradition.

There is an interesting statement by a Japanese researcher praising the knowledge of Kolam practitioners : “In southern India, there are many great female mathematicians who solve a complicated line pattern every morning, with white rice powder on the ground. The pattern is drawn around a grid pattern of dots so that the lines minimally encircle each dot, which is so called “Kolam” pattern in Tamil.”

The women who create floor art take great pride in their work (at festival times there will be friendly competition amongst the households of a street, each trying to outdo the other). The precision of a piece is an aid for younger women to learn and memorise the patterns. Most importantly, these are a conscious offering to the divine, demanding perfection.

Although there are tools to help women create their kolams, the real measure of a master is when the kolam is done free-hand. Today, the art of kolam drawing is said to be becoming a vanishing tradition due  to the availability of ready-made kolams.¹²

In Tamil-Nadu, it is the women of all communities and all faiths together who draw on the ground. Just before sunrise, on a carefully swept village dirt pathway or on the pavements of a city, feminine hands in search of eternity create with their fingertips ephemeral drawings or kôlam to invite the Gods to come down to earth.

Kolam is passed on orally by mothers to their daughters and grandmothers to their granddaughters. Patterns are often passed on to them. But in every house we find a note book where the most intricate drawings are recorded. The girls learn by watching, and then fill up empty areas of the kôlam with coloured powders. Later on, the smartest ones will create new designs that they will draw with dexterity and speed. 

Kolam patterns are quite fascinating and have caught the attention of researches worldwide. “Ethnographers” study the kolam and compare it to ancient designs from other world cultures, while scientists seek to better understand the computing, linguistic and mathematical rules embedded within these ‘mysterious’ curved lines. Many admire the aesthetic aspect of this female artistic expression. Some are moved to poetry. But it is the Indian woman, from a vegetable vendor to ISRO rocket engineer who have actually practiced and kept the tradition of kolam alive across centuries.

In this vast continent, the gods have crossed the limits of the temple; mountains or trees are their homes and animals or birds are their vehicles. Trees, plants and flowers are dedicated to them but also symbolize their vegetal forms. It is in this thousand year old melting pot that symbols and forms have emerged. They represent philosophic ideas or reflect each regions particular customs.

Especially on festive occasions such as Diwali (Deepawali), Karthigai Deepam, Onam, Pongal or Sangaranthi and other Indian festivals  Kolam or Rangoli designs will be  impressive  and awe-inspiring, bearing testimony to the sensitivity of the person to the religious aspects and his/her aesthetic vision.

With the ground as the means of expression, the hand for sole instrument and coloured powders, the Tamil kôlam and the Kerala kalam rest on a dual language, that of silence and humility and of symbolic writing, the gate which opens to the realm of imagination. Prayers for the eyes, the ephemeral drawings draw us into the heart of Indian traditions and its spiritual values.

Welcoming the Dawn:

A stroll at dawn through the earthen lanes of a village or the narrow streets of a city requires not only an attentive eye, which attempts to make out the surroundings, but also a sharp ear. The chirping of nocturnal insects and cawing of crows is followed by the rustling sounds made by straw brooms and the slapping noise of water being thrown onto the ground. Then in the half-light, women holding boxes of white powder draw dots and lines on which flowers, birds, deities symbols or geometrical patterns will emerge. If there is music in these lines, it is both joyful and voluptuous as it fades away under the footsteps of the first passers-by, bicycle tyres, pushcarts and the small trucks which go on their way carrying away miniscule particles full of good intentions. The day has begun.

The Indian scriptures and Puranas mention about the  evolution of this traditional art form. The traditional designs with added innovations are passed on from one generation to the next, keeping the art form of Kolam or Rangoli  alive. Such art forms enrich the residential areas and neighbourhood and add zest to the sanctity of the temple premises.

Faiths and beliefs:

1.       Kolams are a symbol of auspiciousness.  It is Hindu belief that the geometrical patterns & designs applied with rice flour at the entrance to a home, invites Goddess Lakshmi into the household, and drives away the evil spirits. It is widely believed that Sri Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth resides at the homes where such Kolam art is present every day.

2.       In Tamil Nadu there is a prevalent myth, that Andaal , daughter of Periazhavar, the great Vaishnavite scholar in Tamil, worshipped Lord Thirumaal (Lord Vishnu-Ranganathar) and was married to him in the month of Margazhi(dec-jan) which is an auspiscious one. So during this month, unmarried girls get up before dawn and draw a rangoli to welcome the Lord. It is a belief that they will get married to a suitable groom soon without any hitch. On the Aandal temple premises at Sri Villiputhur.

3.       Numerous rangolis or kolams in elaborate styles are drawn with devotion by women.. Concerning the history of kolam, Gift Siromoney has pointed out that the earliest references to kolam drawing in Tamil literary works occur in Madurai Meenakshiammai Kuram (16th Century), and, later, in Thiru Kutraala Kuravanji (17th Century). These references include a description of  the manner of preparation of the surface before constructing the kolam patterns. The former work belongs to the sixteenth century and the latter to the seventeenth. In both these works the reference is to the preparation of the floor and the drawing of a kolam as a prelude to the worship of Ganesha. 

4.       Creating paintings on a natural surface has a really ancient history in India, as evidenced by the Bhimbetka frescoes that are at least 15,000 years old.  This news article talks about the use of Rangoli in the Mahabharata while another forum mentions the design in the Ramayana

5.       Madurai Meenatchiammai Kuram, verse 6


Thiru Kutraala Kuravanji, Madras, 1972, p. 72

6.       Nammalwar is the only alwar to have sung pasurams to this Lord at Thiruvananthapuram.
in 3678: he request the devotees to go to the Lord at Thiruvanantapuram and if obstacles come just mention Kesava and even Yama cannot come near you.  In 3684: by sprinkling scented water making colourful kolams cleaning up the temple precincts will make one eligible for moksa. Even today people perform the cleaning task in spirit and honour the words of Nammalwar. He uses the words "Pambanai male pallikondar" he says the Lord in the Yoga nidra pose is all the time contemplating as to how to safeguard and protect the world that he himself has created.

7.       In the Mahabharata, the gopis (milkmaids) drew kolams to forget the pain that they experienced when their beloved Krishna is away. Rangolis were also drawn by the joyous citizens of Ayodhya in anticipation of Rama’s return.

8.       At a much later date, Kolam-drawing is listed as one of the 64 forms of art in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra.

9.       The South Canara district of Mysore region is studded with Jain temples and each temple has an ornamental flag-staff or dhvaja stambha. The Thousand Pillared Basti at Mudabidare built in the fifteenth century has many ornamental pillars. In some of the pillars there are some complicated designs similar to the Kolam patterns made of unending lines….The unending lines are clearly depicted showing a line superimposed and going over another line at the crossings..” Note that idea of integral unity is common to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist dharma traditions. In fact, it appears that the Buddha may have been an expert at this art.

10.   The Tantric designs or yantras are drawn on small copper sheets and framed and kept in houses and in shops. Such designs can also be seen inscribed on stones set up by those practising black magic. One such stone called mandaveli kal can be seen today at Padur village on the Madras-Mahabalipuram road. Some of the designs are given in a well known Tantric work called Soundaryalahari attributed to Sankara. Designs derived from that work are used as Navagraha kolam meant for the different days of the week. There are also elaborate kolam designs which are used on special occasions and festivals.
11. As Kolams have a strong relationship with contemporary art and art history, they are used in the artwork and media field.

           The idea of drawing patterns on the ground transcends India and can be found in other cultures aswell!
         Anil Menon,  a computer scientist, and a speculative novelist has compiles findings from his research on similar practices among cultures separated by oceans.

      British anthropologist, John Layard, found that the patterns drawn on the sand by the tribal  population of Malekula (an island that's a part of The Republic of Vanuata, situated 1000 miles east of Australia) are similar to the kolam patterns popular in Tamil Nadu!

 Here is the proof:

There is also a possibility that kolam designs were an early form of pictorial language!

Dr Gift Siromani, through his path-breaking work, has proved that it is possible to create any kolam pattern using a combination of strokes.

Rituals and cultural practices are to be cherished

I did not think much of the kolam designs my mom drew every day. But a sudden spark of curiosity led me to unexpected findings and the joy of discovering human beings are connected to each other in more ways than we can imagine.

Physical boundaries, cultural differences, and racial definitions are just imaginary barriers we have erected over a period of time. Our lives are always connected just like the dots of the kolam my mom draws.