Kolam by Sudha Balaji

The harvest festival Pongal is when in the villages ,  sweet Pongal is made with freshly harvested rice, jaggery .  It is celebrated with great pomp and splendour.  A new Pot is purchased painted with designs .  Sweet Pongal is prepared and offered to the Sun God as a mark of respect and gratitude for helping the farmers in agriculture. Two fully grown sugar cane are also offered.  Kolam  are drawn in the area and at the entrance of the house also with generous use of colours  When the sweet Pongal starts to overflow everyone around shouts "Pongalo Pongal".  There is joy and happiness all around. Pongal panai kolam with dots step by step images | chukki rangoli The dot grid used is 11 by 6 Draw lotuses all around as shown in the images below Connect the lotus with petals or leaves Convert the remaining dots at the top into petals Now it appears like a crown of flowers when viewed from the top ! Using the dots at th...

Like any other festival, Bhogi and Sankranti are celebrated in different ways in different states.  Celebrations and traditions vary across families too as we see.  Celebration of festivals, the customs and traditions differ between our maternal home and our in-laws home also.   I would like to share how I celebrate these two festivals. How to celebrate Bhogi Kolam is an important part of any festival and more so in Rangolisansdots.  So first I would like share the kolam, I drew for Bhogi.  It is a type of padi kolam or lines rangoli design.  This lines kolam starts with a Krishnan dindu design as it is called.  After drawing the rangoli with white rangoli, add colourful lines in the gaps to complete the kolam.  Lotuses on four sides adds to the ambiance of the festive spirit Since we live in Tamil Nadu we prepare Venn Pongal on Bhogi festival.   There is also the traditional mixed vegetable curry called Bhogichi Bhaji also called Goth Bh...

Sakkarai Pongal recipe for Pongal | Chakkara Pongal recipe for Sankranti Pongal or Sankranti is celebrated in a very grand manner in villages and small towns where big kolams are drawn and Pongal is cooked in a new pot .  Freshly harvested rice and vegetables etc are used for cooking.  When we lived in a small town, Sweet Pongal was made by boiling the milk first and then adding  rice, moong dhal and jaggery and cooking it.   After the milk in the  Pongal overflowed we all shouted in chorus " Pongalo Pongal " and worshipped the Sun God who we could see clearly from the fields or open fields.  We do not have the same liberty in cities today.   Today seeing the Sun and worshipping Him is a premium.  So we can do what is practically possible in cities and towns where we live to celebrate Pongal as traditionally as possible.   In Tamil as they say " ponnu vaikkum  idathil poo vaipathu and the transliteration  is if we cann...

Small and cute rangoli gallery for Pongal kolam or Sankranti rangoli  In apartment complexes there is the concept of drawing a main kolam or collection of kolams big and small at the entrance or in some main place in the complex by many ladies , some of these kolam may give ideas for them.   Pongal is all about big rangoli or kolam with dots.  However , there is a tradition of drawing more than one kolam to celebrate this festival .  We have a big kolam and on either side we have some smaller kolam too.  Of course this may not be possible in many homes in cities given the fact that flats are more than individual houses Actually this is a very beautiful idea, many ladies and girls joining to create a collection of colourful and beautiful designs for festivals like Pongal ( or Sankranti ) or Diwali . The first rangoli above uses the basic star pattern around which we have more layers of stars.  Finally some free hand decorations between the ar...

Pongal or Sankranti is such a grand festival in the South that we see three or four rangoli designs decorating the entrance of the homes and one of them can be a traditional lines rangoli design either at the entrance or in the Puja room for this special festival dedicated particularly for kolams. Lines rangoli designs are probably the old method of making kolam.  Invariably they appear a bit confusing for some.  However, if we view a video or the steps shown through images as I usually do for the benefit of all we may be pleasantly surprised to see that they are quite easy. First kolam in this series from the Iyengar padi kolam designs.  There are many requests for this kolam .  This is a very basic design that I have drawn. As with any padi kolam we can draw two or four lines.  The free hand designs for this kolam can be according to our imagination.  However, we can have designs like lotus because lotus is associated with auspicious occasion...