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Easy rangoli designs - beginners

Though I have drawn all the designs myself personally I am thankful to my family for the inputs, information and help in drafting all the posts so far.  I have used the terms kolam  rangoli quite freely in all the posts. Probably there would have been differences based on classical (!) explanations in the past but today kolams can also be colourful like rangolis both in the free hand and dots type  I find that even the terms rangoli kolam and kolam rangoli are used at  present. The only area where I think kolam are different are in sikku kolam and arisi maavu kolam. Both are beautiful, challenging and can be intricate . Rangoli is muggulu in Telugu and so this post will be useful for those in search of small and simple muggulu for beginners.  This post   may have answers  kutty rangoli /kolam designs The rangoli in the image below is one of the basic designs that can be used for learning.   Form a star with two inverted triangles.   ...

Poojai arai kolangal

Idhaya kolam or thamarai kolam is drawn as shown in the image above.  Place five dots in eight directions. The first set of lines is shown on the top left of the image.  

These kolams are drawn on Fridays in Pujai room only.  They can also be drawn for Tulasi maadam.  
Decorate with kaavi  The first kolam is Aiswarya kolam or Iswarya kolam . 

 The image above shows the step-by-step procedure to draw the kolam.  The dot pattern is 7 dots at the centre, 8,7,6,3 on either side. 

Many viewers on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram ask me as to what kola podi I use because it has the good qualities of 

both kolam powder and rice flour, where do I purchase, is it any special type of powder etc.  are some of the doubts in the viewer's mind

I purchase kola podi from the local vendor only.  In Tamil Nadu you can find street vendors on vehicles selling white rangoli powder

It is also available in some shops in areas like Mylapore, West Mambalam and Triplicane.  Of course you can purchase online too

I sieve the kola podi I purchase.  Then I add rice flour.  The ratio is 3:1 i.e. for 3 parts of kolam powder I add one part of rice flour

After adding I mix both for a few minutes so that they get mixed thoroughly.  The resultant mixture is used by me 

for drawing kolam for my daily kolam at the entrance and Pooja Room.  I sue the same powder for my demo videos on social media

Iswarya-kolam-1211a.png

Idhaya-kalam-kolam-1211a.png

You may wonder why I am repeating the ratio of kola powder and rice flour used in quite a few posts.  There may be some readers who visit the blog for a couple of posts and go away.  They need some information urgently and when they get it they exit the site.  They may come back later and read a lot of posts if it interests them.

I wish to reiterate that my aim is to encourage our younger generations to practice this art daily at the entrance so that the continuity of the tradition is maintained.  One of the reasons that practitioners may get discouraged if they do not get good lines is the quality of kolam maavu. 

 I think this major problem can be overcome when they use the mixture in the ratio, I have shared. This optimum ratio is based on my experience.  The feedback I have received from viewers is also positive. 

So, the intention of sharing this ratio is quite a few posts is to ensure that the probability of readers visiting the blog gaining this information is more. 

I draw both the kolam, images for which I have shared above with the steps, in the Pooja room.  Invariably I draw a new kolangal on Wednesday or Thursday.  If time permits, I draw one more beautiful rangoli between these two. 

The next two images show a vellikizhami Poojai arai kolam (Pooja rangoli for Friday). 

Vellikizhamai-Poojai-arai-kolam-image-1a

The dot pattern shown in the above image is placed in the following order.  First place four dot on four sides.  Then between any two dots place a dot.  Now place two dots between any two dots.  This way there will be more or less an even gap between any two pulli.  Decorate with kavi powder or colours.  We can draw for Navarathri kolu too. 

Vellikizhamai-Poojai-arai-kolam-image-1ab

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