Kolam by Sudha Balaji

 There may be many answers to this question.  A beautiful explanation I received through a Whatsapp forward recently.  A wealthy businessman with his family had the darshan of Mahaperiya  🙏🙏 (His Holiness Jagathguru  Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal or the Sage of Kanchi) The rich businessman had many problems in life and so sought the blessings of Saint to overcome them. He asked the Saint "Why do I face so many problems " Mahaperiya asked him whether his family had the tradition of drawing kolam daily at the entrance of the home He said "Yes " Swami asked him who drew the kolam.  The businessman's wife replied that it was drawn by the servant. Swami smiled and replied, " Drawing kolam is the way of offering Pooja to Bhoomadevi to whom we are indebted.  Since your servant draws the kolam , she gets the blessings of Bhoomadevi" So let us follow His advice and draw kolam daily at the entrance of our homes and get the Blessings of Moth...

Easy ideas for festival decoration.  Kavi (ochre ) is usually used for festivals.  Add it as a border or fill in the rangoli  I am active on important social media like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube You can do a Google search for "Sudha Balaji " or "Rangolisansdots" for finding various profiles of mine on different social media platforms for videos and reels.   However, I have been active on this blog (website) sharing pics of rangolis, some of them with step-by-step pictures. I started this blog on Blogger before venturing into other platforms, so there is a sentimental attachment.   Of course, it is quite popular too with millions of views and consequently, I regularly share here too.  Dot pattern for the rangoli in the images given below - 7 dots 3 rows, 3 dots 2 rows  7 by 4 chukki rangoli  6 by 6 chukki rangoli design The images below are for 6 by 6 chukkis rangoli design Baking new and different cakes is a hobby for my daughter...

Few simple and small muggulu with chukkalu for the festival.  We can decorate with kaavi as we do for most festivals and functions.  Obviously such small rangolis can be drawn without dots also. The theme for this post is birds ( Pakshi ) The first muggu is using 5 by 3 dots pattern . Earlier I remember to have drawn this rangoli directly with colours.  Now I am sharing the white muggu with colour shading for those who may have missed the earlier post on this website. The next muggu is with 6 by 6 chukkalu  Now for this muggu design, only the white muggulu images have been shared with shading.  Birds need colour.  We can add colours for Ugadi festival celebration  One of the common questions on Facebook and YouTube is how to draw curved lines effortlessly so as to get a uniform line without joints.  The wrist should be relaxed and not stiff.   If you are looking for chukki rangoli simple for Ugadi or easy Ugadi rangoli designs maybe, y...

  Padi kolam designs of Tamil Nadu ( Awesome traditional rangoli with lines ) Traditional padi kolam are popular in South India. They have very simple and repetitive patterns.  For example, in the first rangoli aas square is formed with parallel and perpendicular lines.    The space at the centre has some simple decorations.- traditional designs or padi kolams (as they are termed in Tamil)  They are considered to be  auspicious.  It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi likes them very much.  Though they are simple without decorations or colours, tradition has it that they are drawn  for auspicious occasions. Since Rangoli-sans-dots is about rangoli without dots, primarily, posting of such designs is to show the wide variety of designs that are available to us as also because of the importance accorded to this type for marriages and other such functions (in Tamil Nadu, I hope it so in many other parts also ). They are popular in sou...

  This is a huge elephant kolam (excuse the pun !!) with 21 by 1 dots.   One of the favourites for Sankranthi muggulu or Pongal kolam.  It is not very time consuming since the patterns repeat.  Once we know how to draw one of the elephants (of the herd !!) it is easy to draw the other elephants.   The patterns at the centre and those at the dots remaining at the four corners can be drawn according to our wish.   This is also suitable for New Year rangoli design if you are looking for big kolam I presume that someone who comes in search of grand kolam may have a long experience in drawing rangoli the traditional way.  So, the steps are in the reverse order :) I have shown only the white muggu.  We can add colour as we please.  That is the liberty we have in kolam art.  Elephants need not be grey; they can be filled with any bright colour. If you are looking for chukki rangoli big size, big pulli kolam designs with steps or big ...

What is kolam - Kolam means beauty , beauty due to symmetry.  The opposite of kolam means not in order, haphazard.   Hence kolam means in order , symmetry etc.  Neli kolam category and symmetry are synonymous. When you view a nelivu kolam ( one of the many names for this variety of rangoli - called melikala muggulu in Telugu , gantina rangoli in Kannada ) from any direction you will find symmetry. Let us start this post with  a sikku kolam with 8 pulli first  We can draw it for weekdays ( Monday to Thursday , except Friday ).  I do not draw these on Fridays.  There is no specific reason.   Next kolam is also a 8 dots sikku kolam , seems easy but can be a bit tricky and demands lots of concentration like almost all kolangal of this type   After sikku kolangal let us try a regular dot kolam with 8 dots  Step by step pictures for this pulli vacha kolam - an eight dots rangoli  Chukki rangoli with square dot pattern  ...

A collection of very simple kolam that we can try for Margali masam (thingal).  These small kolangal can be drawn as kolams without dots.   Add colour to get awesome designs. While medium size and big rangoli designs are popular during this month.  Occasionally i.e. at least a few times in 30 days we may need small rangoli too. The first three rangoli designs can be tried as pulli illatha kolam .  I have shared only the white kolam.   Please add colours.  It is practically difficult to share all kolam with colours.  I will exhaust my stock quickly and will have to trouble my sister to send it from Nagpur :) 1) White rangoli without dots small 2) Without chukki small white rangoli 3) One small and simpler kolam 4) Birds kolam small and simple - white peacocks, may be  Sikku kolam of various sizes are hugely popular during Dhanurmasam aka Margazhi .  Here I share a beautiful chikku kolam t hrough few pics The dot pattern is 9 dots 2 rows...

This kolam can also be drawn free hand.  I have used 7 into 1 dot pattern to make it little easy.  When we are looking for small and beautiful rangolis for Dhanurmasam or New Year I think such designs fit the bill.  Of course, we can add colours instead of shading with white kola podi.    As a plain white rangoli it can be used for our daily purpose kolangal. Five, seven and nine chukki rangoli designs are among the most popular because invariably grid size is directly proportional to time taken and complexity.  Invariably because there are exceptions to the rule and those exceptions are quite a few. 7 to 1 chukkala muggulu variety - step by step images  See how decorations and shading increase by leaps and bounds a simple dot kolam with lines  If you are looking for 7 ner pulli kolam or 7 dots rangoli kolam  this may satisfy your query to Google :)  This is one of the earliest kolam I drew for YouTube.  My channel is called Sudha ...

We may be looking for easy rangoli for Margazhi due to lack of space, the problem faced in cities or because we are drawing kolam for the first time and would like to join the month-long celebrations of Margazhi known for kolams also.   I have shared five simple rangoli .   The 3rd to 5th rangolis are smaller than the previous two.  You may try all for the ensuing season.  1) Beautiful without chukki rangoli   2) One more small rangoli without dots  3) A very small and cute kolam for Margazhi , why not  This gallery who is for those who get intimidated by big rangoli or who do not have time due to other reasons to draw complex kolam for Dhanurmasam.   We have to follow the tradition of drawing kolam daily in the morning, particularly during Margali.   It can be a small kolam too One more small pulli illatha kolam  I will add some more ideas to this collection.  Here is one more of the many images on this website. If you wa...