Kolam by Sudha Balaji

 Margazhi , New Year, Bhogi .Pongal and also Kanum Pongal - a month of celebrations with bhajans, music in Sabhas , special Pooja in temples.   The main attraction for this month long festivities are big , beautiful and colourful kolam designs at the entrances of many homes. This post is about a beautiful and traditional sikku kolam ( some call it chikku kolam ). Others call it neli kolam or kambi kolam.  The following pictures show the step by step procedure to  draw a wonderful kolam which will leave your neighbours and passersby awestruck.  The video for this rangoli was viral on my Facebook and Instagram Pages. By the way all my Pages are called Rangolisansdots.  You may think that the name Rangolisansdots is not suitable for sikku kolam. For those who are visiting the first time, I started in 2012 , primarily with rangoli designs without dots , particularly double line kolangal.  Hence the name :) The dot pattern for this awesome traditiona...

 On 20th of August 2024 Rangoli sans dots completed 12 years successfully.  When you are there for the long haul encouragement from followers, subscribers and viewers is the motivation. I shared a post thanking my followers on Facebook.  I am grateful for the wonderful comments received there .  I am sharing some of them in this blog post  "Wow!! Great madam.  Heartiest congratulations on successful completion of 12 years of such beautiful divine and dedicated art.  May God shower all his blessings on you and your family with loads of happiness and good health.  I am indeed blessed to see your kolams/muggulu daily as though I am drawing myself. Great inspiration for one and all to keep continuing our tradition even in this present digital life ...."  Shailaja Bharath "You inspired me to draw rangoli daily.  Many thanks to you!  Keep sharing your rangolis.  They are such a beautiful one " - Medha Kulkarni "Congratulations my dea...

 An auspicious  Pooja room kolam and hence not drawn at the entrance.  As in the case of many posts I have shown  the white kolam only.  It is preferable to decorate with kavi ( ochre ) colour.  Kavi is usually used for auspicious occasions. This kolam can be drawn for our Wednesday kolangal or Saturday kolam as these two days are important for Lord Vishnu We can also draw for Vaikunta Ekadasi festival , Purattasi month ( the whole month is considered important for Lord Venkateswara ) I have also added Goddess Lakshmi's Feet for this rangoli.  In traditional rangoli we represent Her through Feet patterns. The main rangoli represents the Lord through shanka and chakra designs with the Namam pattern at the centre.🙏🙏 I receive few suggestions on social media - like lines should be drawn from top to bottom, patterns should be drawn clockwise and not counter clockwise Though I appreciate their views , I think that we must first encourage drawing kolam dai...

    Rangoli making / Rangoli drawing - double stroke kolam T he first image shows the first step of the rangoli.  I have used only parallel lines drawn simultaneously in this design. Draw four pairs of intersecting lines.   From the ends of each line connect the adjacent line to get the pattern seen above. A very basic design that can by itself used as a simple rangoli for our homes.  The next design has evolved from the previous one.   Draw a parallel line border matching the contours of the first design.  Connect the border and the floral design with as many straight lines as possible The third step of the rangoli is shown below.  Decorate the periphery of the rangoli with floral motifs that are formed using spiral and circular patterns.   Also fill the petals at the centre with simple oval designs.  This is a plain rangoli by itself and can be drawn at entrances.  The rangoli can be filled with colours.  Adding col...