For the mantap on which we place the kalasam or face of the Goddess we usually draw auspicious rangolis like Hridaya kamalam or Aishwarya kolam.
For decoration in front of the mantapam or outside the house we can choose to draw a simple padi kolam or any other design of our choice except sikku kolam. Some ideas are given through images.
This is a collection of without chukki rangoli designs with an intermediate step to make it clear if there are any doubts.
First one of the simplest kolam created by me for social media. Colours can be added to make it more beautiful.
The illustrations given here are for reference. If you want to retain it for Pooja room add kavi or lal colour to a white rangoli for auspicious occasions as always instead of adding colours as suggested earlier.
Drawing with vellai kolamaavu is the traditional and old method of drawing this art. Let us preserve it by practising daily as also for festivals. Only when we practise it daily, I feel that the next generation will observe and learn just as I observed my mother, sitting on the thinnai (a stone platform) outside the house. She did not take rangoli classes for me or for any of her children she just created an environment. Learning was through observation.
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| White rangoli design simple and beautiful |
Drawing the central design around which patterns can be added according to our convenience. The secret is drawing the lines at one stretch, joints in lines should be avoided. If we compare the pics above and below, we can observe how a simple triangle pattern can be converted into simple and beautiful white rangoli. One of the combinations of motifs I use to decorate a basic white outline rangoli is the spiral and floral petal combination as shown above. Since the space above the edges of the two triangles may appear empty it is preferable to add some motifs that are congruous with the already drawn design.
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| White rangoli design simple and beautiful image 1 |
One more simple rangoli with lines that can be used to decorate the space before the Mandap. Thin lines called ezhai are demonstrated in the white line rangoli design with intersecting parallel and perpendicular lines. This is one of the most popular patterns on my social media accounts. I see that viewers simply love this type and cannot have enough of it. Whenever I draw this variety, the videos invariably become viral with hundred thousand or a million views.  |
| White rangoli easy and beautiful |
Unlike the previous example, I have not added any motifs in the illustration above. I leave to the readers to use their imagination and make an attractive rangoli for Varamalakshmi Habba.
Next is a dotted kolam - 7 by 4 dots. Placing small dots inside the design can be done by using very little powder. Also, the role of the thumb is very important in placing dots,
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| Easy white rangoli with dots image |
The small rangoli with intricate patterns in progress. Comparing the two kolam images shows how addition of motifs makes a non-descript pattern is one of the most beautiful rangoli designs. Just as in the case of the previous example discussed above, the use of spiral and floral petal motifs has enhanced the beauty of the vellai kolamaavu kolam. However, the floral motifs used are different in both illustrations.
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| White rangoli simple with dots step 1 |
A different type of design. We can add more patterns if we feel that there is lot of space left. I wanted to try something easy and different. The unique selling proposition, if I may call it, is the very thin lines that are drawn to make this simple white rangoli kolam.
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| white kolam with thin lines or ezhai |
I remember my mother-in-law narrating the following incident. The kalash used by her mother-in-law was in a close relative's house. She pursued with them, went to their house several times and finally brought it to our house.
Goddess Lakshmi's Face is etched on it, and She is very beautiful and divine. My mother-in-law wanted to start performing Pooja with this kalasam and this was in the early seventies, but she was down with para typhoid.
She was determined to perform Pooja with that kalasam on Varalakshmi Pooja day as per the calendar (though we can perform on subsequent Fridays in Sravan month or on a Friday during Navaratri) and so she took treatment from the family doctor (those days there was the concept of family doctor.
He or she was almost like a member of the family and came to the house for treating the ill and infirm) became better and started the preparations.
Coming back to learning, I think it can be done by listening and hearing also. I understand that there is a lot of difference between the two. My husband once said that his mother (my mother-in-law) sang Tamil devotional songs like Abhirami Thirupadhigam daily in the morning among other songs and slokas. It was around the time he used to wake up in the morning. So, lying on the bed he listenened to the songs rendered by her in the Pooja room (she had a melodius voice since she was a qualified Carnatic musician). As a result, he memorised two of the most popular songs of Abhirami Thirupadhigam at a very young age. He recites daily while praying in the Pooja room.
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