Kolam—Ethnomathematical Activity

Kolam skills are considered as mark of grace, dexterity, discipline and concentration. Creating Kolam pattern is expected to be useful for activating or training human brain. It is a wonder that a women with no math knowledge (except counting) is able to draw any type of complex pattern without much effort. They show their perfection in geometrical presentation, symmetry, straight lines, curves etc., Girls capture, encode, and decode the image in their memory with much clarity before reproducing it on the ground. Thus, kolam can be called as an “ethnomathematical” activity.

Ethnomathematics is a field that examines the mathematical accomplishments of different cultural groups, that are imbedded in their cultural practices. In this context kolam, lends itself to many mathematical explorations. 

The mathematical aspects of kolam have prompted mathematicians and computer scientists to explore its properties. Mathmaticians have studied the relationships between kolam and higher level mathematical concepts like fractals and knot theory. Kolam always includes symmetrical patterns. Kolam designs have been studied by computer scientists because of the intricate patterns of vertices that can appear in the final product. The kolam are made by first creating a dot, or a matrix. The array can be rectangular, triangular or square or many variations of them, thus exhibiting numerous geometrical patterns.

In the art of padi kolam, the center is mostly a square or a circle and and the kolam is expanded according to the skill of the one who draws the kolam, in a symmetrical way. Symmetry and perfect square or circle is more important in padi kolam. in pulli kolam dots are arranged in rhombic, square, triangular or any free shapes, and a single curvilinear line called kambi interwines the dots. Here also symmetry plays a major role. Girls somehow understand these implicit regulations and operate within the parameters. Learning to make kolams begins in childhood and girls are taught the designs and techniques by their mothers and it forms an important part of girl’s training.

Kolam as a socio cultural activity, also creates great opportunities to learn mathematical skill and concepts- visual, spatial and algebraic concepts that are nested within it. Kolam provides deep mathematical learning about pattern recognition, algebraic reasoning, spatial sense, and geometrical understanding. The authors of “Kolam- A Mathematical treasure of south india” claim that the kolam activity can be used to meet standards in algebraic reasoning. Kolam lesson cam help every child, regardless of cultural background, engage with an artistic, socially culturally meaningful activity, that is also steeped in mathematics.

Kolam is an activity associated with women, where mathematical thinking is involved and also has been considered as an important activity. It is in contrast to the western society where women are excluded from mathematics. There is no doubt that the women who create kolam designs have an understanding of nontrivial mathematics concepts involved in the art process, even if they would not express in textbook mathematics terms.

Preservation of the traditional art “Kolam” by transforming it to digital information and being recognized as a part of the world heritage is much needed for the recognition of this ethnomathematical activity. Digitization of the information archived about Kolam is an important step in efforts for dissemination. This would provide a worldwide access to this information. Hence scholars and interested individuals would easily be able to access and practice the tradition.

The mathematical and scientific explanations would not only attract the young generation to practice the art, but would also generate curiosity amongst scholars to preserve the tradition.

Do the women, who are involved in this mathematically rich culturally-embedded practice squarely outside of an academic setting, think about what they do (as opposed to what they make) in a mathematical sense? Knowing about their thought process will certainly be a boon to maths educators to help with teaching maths to non mathematical people.

Kolams occupy a rich space between the purely functional and the purely intellectual and involve many features of mathematical thought. For many women there is a cultural imperative to put a kolam outside her home every day, but it is definitely a personal choice and a significant commitment to learn a large number of complex kolams.