The floor decoration art : "Rangoli"

From my childhood, I am very fascinated and fond of Rangoli. I make Rangoli every year on the occasion of Diwali. For me, rangoli is the “best way to express art and beauty”. 

In ancient India, Rangoli is an art associated with festive occasions and special events. Rangoli, as a religious art form has been prevalent all over India.

            Rangoli is a colorful design drawn at the entrance of the home to usher peace and prosperity to come inside and is believed to be sacred art form.

            It is a traditional art of decorating courtyards and walls of the houses, worship place, marriage halls etc. The rangoli can made with powders of white stone, rice flour, turmeric powder or any kind of powder or paste. In India, each state has its own way of drawing rangoli.

Rangoli is known by various names in all parts of India and is discussed below:-

REGIONS	OTHER NAMES OF RANGOLI	DESCRIPTION
1. Bihar	Aripana	It usually comprises of line drawings, illustrated on the floor of the house.
2.Madhya Pradesh	Chowkpurana	Traditional designs fitted in square with leaves and flowers.
3. Tamil Nadu	Kolam	Rangoli is drawn by using rice flour and is drawn mainly during “Onam”.
4. Bengal	Alpana	The word 'alpana' means 'to plaster' or 'to coat with'. Rangoli is drawn by rice paste. Women dip their fingers in a thick rice flour solution & draw alpana with their fingers.
5. Rajasthan	Mandana	Mandana means to discover and to draw lines. Rice flour mixed with little turmeric. It is drawn on the walls. Designs of Mandana are created by using chalk and brushes made of bamboo sticks.
6. Orissa	Osa,Muruja,Jhunti, Chita	The term "osa" in Oriya means vrata and hence the designs related to vrata rituals are referred to as osa. These are made using rice paste. Muruja is a powder of a light variety of limestone, (usually used by tribals to make diagrams in the Temple of Puri) hence very often the floor patterns are referred to as muruja. Though chita is the most common name for the floor art in general.
7.Andhra Pradesh	Muggu or Muggulu	Rangoli drawn by using thick batter of soaked rice flour.
8.Maharashtra	Chaitrangana	Rangoli thick powder made from special rock is used in various colors, and the powder of burnt rice skin.
9. Gujarat	Sathiya	Sathiya design comprises dots and lines. Lines are drawn across each other. Dotes are put in each part drawn by lines. Usually kumkum or rice powder is used for drawing Sathiya rangoli design. Also, rangoli made from colored rice and whole grains are prevalent in Gujarat.
10.Uttar Pradesh	Sona Rakhana,Sanjhi	Sanjhi, a type of rangoli made using stencils is intrinsic to the rituals followed during the Pitra-paksha, the period of the ancestors and the departed or the Shraddha month. The theme for the sanjhi is derived from Krishna-leela and the Bhakti movement. It is mainly practised in few temples in Vrindavan and the Ladililala temple in Barsana in the Braja region in north-western U. P. and few temples in Rajasthan.
11.Uttarakhand	Aipan	Drawn with dry rice powder or coloured soil.
12. Kerala	Puvidai, Pookalam	“Puv” means flower and “idal” means arrangement i.e Rangoli by flowers.
13. Karnataka	Rangavalli	From the powder of a special kind of a rock. Tiny dots are drawn on the floor usually in even numbers. These dots are joined with the powder in a geometrical fashion.
14.Almora-Garhawal	Alpana	-
15.Himachal Pradesh	Likhnoo, Haugaiyan	The Pahari women give a coating of cow dung to the floors that is beaten flat, and the painting begins while it is still damp. The paint, consisting of earth colors and rice paste mixed with dyes, is dropped onto the surface with the fingers closely pressed together. It is locally known as haugaiyan, while other terms like likhnoo apply to specific forms of floor painting.
16. Kumao	Alikhthap or Thapa, Aipan	Thapa is a highly complex drawing. Almost all the gods and goddesses, besides several local deities, are depicted in it, along with the many-armed Durga, who rides the lion. Durga Thapa is painted on paper, by the women of Kumaon, for the two Durga Pujas held in a year, one in March-April and the other before Dussehra. Kumaon's "type beat" or Thapa drafting of a variety of symbols, artistic designs.
17. Manipur	Pakhamba	Rangolis are made with rice powder and colors.
18. Assam	Morol	-

Here are some of my rangoli designs: -