Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Namrata  •  Filed under: Rangoli

Many of you must be knowing Rangoli, many of you must have drawn Rangoli. So before discussing about Rangoli and its different pattern, I want you people to know What is Rangoli? What is origin of Rangoli? We should know this because its popular art form.

The term Rangoli is derived from words rang (colour) and aavalli (‘coloured creepers’ or ‘row of colours’). Rangoli is one of the most popular art forms in India. It is a form of sandpainting decoration that uses finely ground white powder and colours. Rangoli can be use as wall art or as floor art. Rangoli is used commonly outside homes in India.

Origin: The origin of rangoli painting is traced to a legend recorded in the Chitralakshana. Does anybody know how first painting was made???

When the son of a King’s high priest died, Brahma, Lord of the universe, asked the king to paint the likeness of the boy so that Brahma could breathe life into him again. This is how, it is believed, the first painting was made. Also, the son of the king painted a portrait of a girl whom the son liked very much. Although, the king would not let his son see her. Rangoli also became a form of a women self portrait.

Another popular story is that God, in one of his creative episodes, extracted the juice from one of the mango trees as paint, and drew the figure of a woman so beautiful that it put the heavenly maidens to shame.

Rangoli is known by different names in different parts of the country; Aalpana in Bengal, Aripana in Bihar, Madana in Rajasthan, Rangoli in Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Chowkpurana in Uttar Pradesh and Kolam in Kerala and Tamilnadu, Muggu in Andhrapradesh. Some of these, especially many of the North Indian ones like Aalpana more often refer to floor painting with traditional wet color, rather than the powder rangoli more conventional in south India

Originally Rangoli was done in small patterns — 2 feet square — but now entire floor areas of rooms and hotel foyers are covered in intricate detailed designs. Traditionally, such floor decorations were done only on auspicious occasions or festivals. But today, any occasion is good enough — weddings, birthday parties, opening ceremonies, etc. In the deep South and South West of India and Kerala, flowers are used to create floor art.
Rangoli can be improvised into diverse visual art forms. For instance, it can be used to make elaborate images that look as if they were painted.

In Indian cultures, all guests and visitors occupy a very special place, and a Rangoli is an expression of this warm hospitality. In particular, the Divali festival is widely celebrated with Rangoli, since at this time, people visit each other’s homes to exchange greetings and sweets.

Colours and motifs:

The motifs in traditional Rangoli are usually taken from Nature – peacocks, swans, mango, flowers, creepers, etc. The designs are symbolic and common to the entire country, and can include geometrical patterns, with lines, dots, squares, circles, triangles; the swastika, lotus, trident, fish, conch shell, footprints (supposed to be of goddess Lakshmi), creepers, leaves, trees, flowers, animals and anthropomorphic figures. These motifs often are modified to fit in with the local images and rhythms.

The colours traditionally were derived from natural dyes – from barks of trees, leaves, indigo, etc. However, today, synthetic dyes are used in a range of bright colours. The materials used for Rangoli take on either a flat appearance, when a uniform monolayer of powders are sprinkled or a 3-D effect when different sized grains like cereals, pulses etc are used either in their natural colouring or tinted with natural dyes are used. Some artists use the 3-D effect for borders alone while others create beautiful designs using grains and beads entirely. Coloured powder can be directly used for fancy decorations, but for detailed work, generally the material is a coarse grained powder base into which colors are mixed. The base is chosen to be coarse so that it can be gripped well and sprinkled with good control. The base can be sand, marble dust, saw dust brick dust or other materials. The colors generally are very fine pigment podwers like gulal/aabir available for Holi or colors (mentioned above) specially sold for Rangoli in South India. Various day to day colored powders like indigo used for cloth staining, spices like turmeric, chili, rawa, rice flour, flour of wheat etc are also variously used. Powder colors can be simply mixed into the base. If the base is light like saw dust, it can be used to make floating rangoli on the surface of stagnant water. Sometimes saw-dust or sand is soaked into water-based color and dried to give various tints.

Rangoli also has a religious significance, enhancing the beauty of the surroundings and spreading joy and happiness all around.

Source: Wikipedia.