For the past one month all the houses in West Mambalam had a colourful frontage. I was enjoying the creativity of women while passing through those streets. Having been brought up in a house with spacious frontage kolam drawing was a daily ritual, contesting with all women in the family.Girls from the age of four or five were trained in kolam.During temple processions when deities are taken out through residential streets, we used to draw very big kolam sometimes dashing through the kolam of the opposite house. Drawing imaginary border lines was an interesting affair. We may be under the wrong impression that drawing kolam started from vedic age.We are wrong. There is no reference to the kōlam either in the Tamil word-lists (called Nigandus), Tamil literature, in ancient paintings or in any travellers' account. Contrary to popular belief, the common threshold patterns are not very ancient. The practice of decorating the floor may go back to about six hundred years and not more. A few designs may be traced to the Jain temples of South Kanara and at least one to Mahayana Buddhism… In Tamil literature the use of the word kōlam for drawing patterns on the floor is met with for the first time in a Kuravanji called Madurai Meenatchiammai Kuram and a little later in Kutrala Kuravanji. These works relate to 16th or 17th century only. However some geometric patterns, yantra or Tantric designs that are used in kōlam are of quite ancient origin and have a reference in Vedic texts. Though the word kōlam appears several times in ancient Tamil Sangam literature, it does not convey the meaning of what we say as kolam .The word is used with the meaning of disguise,play, beauty, form etc. In some of the inscriptions of Tirunelvel district it is mentioned that the threshold of homes should not be left blank; they should be filled with ritual designs, An opportunity to draw kolam within the prakaram of the temple was a boastful event.Completion of a design covering nearly 300 s.ft was a task in itself.During week long festivals kolam insired everybody. During summer festival of Pancha Prakaram of Thiruvanaikoil some ten or 15 girls formed a team to discuss about various designs in different prakaramsAn entire week was spent for the activity.. The main job went to the expert Mami. . Each day before dawn, during the Brahma muhurtam (believed to be the time when Brahma and all other deities descend to the earth) and sometimes before dusk, millions of women in the town, villages and the cities of South IndiaTamil Nadu draw kōlam on the thresholds and floors of houses, temples and businesses. In Tamil culture, the threshold is of great significance . If you observe closely, the kōlam patterns are drawn deftly by women with the tips of their fingers using pinches of flour held between the thumb and the first finger and letting the powder fall in a continuous line by moving the hand in desired directions . The process involves concentration, memory and a series of disciplined hand and body movements. On the face of it, the patterns appear quite simple, but it takes years of practice and training to master the complex Kōlams. The kōlam is created in a few minutes or a few hours, and after only a few hours, it disappears under the feet of a passerby. In kōlam making the process of making and getting lost is repeated as a rhythm, wherein fresh patterns are made as old ones get lost in some moment of the day. Kōlam is also more geometrical and involves an intrinsic mathematical aptitude as compared to Rangoli or other popular floor art traditions. Many kolams are based on Fibonacci series, algebraic and numeric principles. Kōlam epitomizes geometrical properties of symmetry, periodicity/repetition, recursion and rhythm though the rustic village women, why even the educated ones, do not know the science Most kōlam patterns frequently include the use of concepts from calculus and applied mathematics. But women do it as REFLEX ACTION. For special occasions to make the kōlam hold longer, the rice flour is made wet by adding water. A small cloth piece folded over (or a paper towel) is dipped into the liquid rice paste and placed between the thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger and pressed until drops of wet white rice flour pours through the front end of the three fingers. The kōlam is created, almost as if the fingers were acting as an ink pen. These semi-permanent kōlams are called mākōlam. Basic geometrical shapes are combined and overlapped in increasing complex designs to represent particular forces or qualities embodied in some aspect of creation, evolution or dissolution. . There are special kolams for various occasions like Deepavali,Pongal, Janmashtami, New year etc, Birth Days etc • Kōlam on special occasions–vrats( sacred vows) :There are also some rarely drawn kōlams, such as the navagraha kōlams, which are done only in front of household shrines, and only on special occasions. Kalyana kolams are unique. A very big Kōlam is made in the house on the 13th day of the ceremony of the departed soul. The grih shanti hawan (ritual wherein offerings are made to a consecrated fire) is done. • • Chikku/Sikku (Knot or twisted) kōlam: In this kōlam design the curved lines are made around the dot making an intricate pattern where one can not figure out where the design begins from and where it ends. Many kolams can be made out of plus and double plus symbols and X designs.Unless you see the kolam in process, you cant find out how the final figure has arrived. Interesting. The absence of a kolam signifies either the household is not Hindu or an inauspicious event like death has occurred in the household. In that sense the kōlam can be seen as an underlying visual mapping of the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness; ritual purity and ritual pollution for Tamil households in the context of ritual space and time Besides, the ritual resonance, there are a host of other layered meanings ascribed to the kolam. It is considered as a matter of pride and satisfaction for Tamil Hindu women to be able to draw the traditional one-curve kolam in one go rather than in pieces. Traditionally, Kolam skills are considered as a sign of the talent and prowess of a woman in her capacity as the proprietrix of the household. During the sacred Margazhi month women compete with one another in a spirit of playful competition in the various Kolam contests organized in cities, towns and villages in Tamil Nadu Kolam displays all the six categories of mathematical skills: counting, locating (identifying), measuring, designing, playing (experimenting) and explaining are involved . In order to be able to make a perfect design, the women need to keep a count of vertices, the numbers of curves and the points at which the curves or lines meet. Though physically at the age of 81,I am not able to sit at a place to draw large kolams, I am able to put it in writing. Practically I took a longer time to write an essay rather than to depict a kolam of the largest size of 15 ftx 15ft. Kolam is really a grand KOLAM ( BEAUTIFUL SIGHT) Jayasala 42
Kudos to madam sister for sharing. But kolam seldom happens in cities in small apartments at their doorstep near the threshold of entrance. Powdered or pulverised sea-shells used for drawing rangoli at door step or at huge entrance gate. Rice powder _kolam_ rarely seen on the roads. Colour (chemical) powder used now to beautify the various patterns. But the ancient conservative idea behind kolam is totally forgotten . After ants and birds eaten the rice powder from random places in a kolam used to leave beautiful pattern adding to aesthetics. This is not seen. Watch how beautiful to see birds crowding around a simple rice-kolam. Latent maths involved in every kolam. There are possibilities of huge research in the making of kolam and its intricacies. Google provides lots of analysis in terms of patterns trignometry geometry etc. Significance of Kolam in Tamil Culture | Sahapedia Lissajous patterns comes to mind. I came across hilarious reference to kolam from another group today as below:Only those Tamilans who had struggled with Hindi as 3rd language understand and empathise with 10th standard student answering a question in hindi paper. Q: Pongal ke baare mein ek upanyaas likho. Answer- Pongal Tamil Nadu ka ek pandigai hai. Is pandigai thai maas mein aatha hai. Sab log adigaalai kulichthe hain aur naya kapada podtha hai. Vaasal mein bada bada kolam colour powder ke saath podtha hai. Madhya mein poosani poo veppanga hai. Mathaji sakkarai pongal seidha hai. Pongum samay mein sab log "pongalo pongal" boltha hai. Amma ji vadai, koottu, sambar aur appalam bhi neraya seitha hai. Madhiyam sabko surya bhagavan padaitha hai. Karpuram kaati ke baadh sab log ukkandhu kaatha hai. Uske baad sab log konjam sotha hai. Avvalavudhaan hai. Nandree hai.
That was hilarious answer! had a very very great laugh and still laughing. Thank you Sir for sharing it.
Hi @jayasala42 ma’am, It was good to read about things related to kolam. We Telugu people also draw “Muggu” (Kolam) in front of home and your article brought back many sweet memories which related to muggu and festivals.
Today when I googled for Japanese findings under electron microscope the molecules of water turns into a beautiful pattern when exposed to chants and other vedic manthra. Those pattern said to look like kolam. When water exposed to erratic noise or harsh sounds the corresponding image pattern looked hazy and chaotic. The search yielded many websites and when I clicked site titled kolam , much to my delight it lead to this thread by madam sister @jayasala42 . I enjoyed reading entire thread once again.
Kolam also signifies our concern for small minute creatures like ants that form an important part of our ecosystem. Nowadays lot of people use chalk and chemical colours, Butm Kolam always used to be drwn wirh edible flours like rice flour or red sand that does not harm any mcreature. The edible flours serve as food for insects like ants.