Each dawn, millions of Tamil women create intricate, geometric, ritual-art
designs called 'kolams,' at the thresholds of their homes, as a tribute to
Mother Earth and an offering to Goddess Lakshmi. A Tamil word that means beauty,
form, play, disguise or ritual design-- a kolam is anchored in the Hindu belief
that householders have a karmic obligation to "feed a thousand souls." By
creating the kolam with rice flour, a woman provides food for birds, rodents,
ants and other tiny life forms -- greeting each day with 'a ritual of
generosity', that blesses both the household, and the greater community. Kolams
are a deliberately transient form of art. They are created anew each dawn with a
combination of reverence, mathematical precision, artistic skill and
spontaneity.
Read on for one kolam practitioner's deeply personal exploration of this
multidimensional practice.
