Kolam-- A Creative Process

In the wee hours of the morning when the whole household is asleep, the lady of the house wakes up washes her face and comes to the threshold of her house. She sprinkles the water in the floor and cleans it thoroughly. If the floor is made of mud sometimes cow dung is mixed with the water and the ground is cleansed. In the modern apartments the floor is cleansed through wet wiping. When we go through the villages it is a great sight to see the women sprinkle the ground and clean it.

When the ground is still wet, she takes the rice powder in her hand in between her thumb and the index finger, bends forward in an angle and starts to draw the kolam. It is sometimes abstract with straight lines connected artistically. Or the rice powder, with the skill of the lady, turns into flowers or peacocks or some intricate concrete designs. There is a strong cultural practice of drawing a kolam, before anyone leaves the home for the day’s work.

If there is a puja in the house or marriages the floor paintings become very intricate and elaborate and red sand paste known as kavi is also used in it. Rice is also soaked and ground into paste and the paste is used for adorning the floor with kolams for long term effects during such occasions. 

Whether done with the rice powder or the rice paste, it is considered inauspicious for a home to be without the kolam, and mostly the lady of the house takes the responsibility of doing it. 

Whatever may be the purpose, once done, the kolam does not belong to her. Sometimes during the passage of the day nobody really looks into it. It seldom gets appreciated. It is often trampled again and again with the foot or totally destroyed by the little pranksters. Or suddenly the rain comes and rubs off all the kolam. This is what life teaches us too. Whatever may happen to the kolam, she is again up in the next dawn, even before the whole house wakes up, with the water and the powder in the hand to draw again and adorn the floor going by her emotions to draw various things and taking pride in it. She is the sole creator and sometimes the sole appreciator of her artistic work. Maybe the concentration that she puts in it, makes her ready for the whole day of happenings inside and outside the household. 

If we can notice it is the only time she is with herself beyond the boundaries of time and space, it is just her and her fingers creating a treat, and when she finishes she just leaves it and comes to the real world and moves on with her duties. She is least bothered about what may happen to the kolam after that. Maybe she learns her life skills from an early age from this process adorning the floor with the paintings.

The Ritual of Floor Paintings

The ritual of drawing in the floor in the mornings or during festivals and marriages is a pan Indian culture. These floor paintings are known by different names across India,  alpona in Bengal and Assam, aripana in Bihar, pakhamba in Manipur, jinnuti in Orissa, mandana in Rajasthan, rangoli in Maharashtra, sathia in Gujarat, chowkpurana or sona rakhna in Uttar Pradesh, likhnu in Himachal Pradesh, apna in Almora and Nainital region, kolam in Tamil Nadu, and muggulu in Andhra Pradesh. Each region has its own uniqueness and pattern in the floor paintings.
My interest as such is in the pattern of padi kolam or kanya kolam, which I have been familiar with from my childhood days and have grown seeing the women of the family adoring the floor with their creativity in the early morning hours, even before they had something to drink or eat.
Kolam in tamizh has many meanings. It means beauty, gracefulness, a form or shape, adornment or decoration. Kolam are the ornamental figures drawn on floor, wall or sacrificial pots with rice flour, white stone powder etc. Padi kolam is a variety of kolam, which is in practice mostly by the Tamilnadu brahmin community. It is an artistic tradition of the brahmins. It is also known as kanya kolam and is elaborately done during festivals and marriage functions. On occasional days rice flour paste is used with kavi, red sand paste to do the kolam.
As a child one of my fondest memories of this tradition is where the ladies of the whole street draw grand kolams in the street when the god comes in procession, for welcoming the lord. And also, during the season of margazhi, where there will be a unsaid competition between the kolams of each and every house. I speak of a season where there were minimal apartments and more of individual types of house which have a good open patio. Even today place like west mambalam and mylapore in Chennai carry on this tradition to some extent and you can see the women of the houses drawing kolam in the early morning hours.
What are these floor paintings? Are these mere decorations and beautification? Do they have underlying meanings which have been forgotten with time? Are they welcoming signs; expressions of gratitude or description of desires? These question makes me ponder on the inner meaning of a very ancient artistic tradition.
All the padi kolams that are presented here are drawn by me for various occasions. I wish to continue giving both visual and literary treat. I wish everyone who are interested to come forth with valuable points for discussion.