Finding connection and focus in the dots and lines of a ‘rangoli'

Mint

02-08-2025

Rangoli (kolam or muggu) patterns show highly conserved geometric shapes to those observed in nature. The fact that they may have metaphysical relevance is an interesting idea and needs to be thoroughly understood. These studies could unearth possible correlations that drive the forms and shapes observed in nature.'
And beyond connection with others and nature, muggu (chukkalu, chikku or sikku design) can also work as a foundation for self-awareness and help in reconnecting with our core. For instance, Sumathy Ramalingam says, 'Chikku (aka Sikku or interlaced kolam) has a few schools of thought. Some think those knots are representative of life's problems and they do not want to make it (giving way to encouraging the problems further). Another school of thought is that even though they are as knotty as spaghetti, we can make sense out of it. They apply this approach to life. Whatever problems life throws at you, like criss-crosses, knots, spaghetti and what not, eventually all will make sense, only if you see the best in it and make the best out of it.' That is, by viewing them as challenges and untangling them or handling the curve balls flung at you. This idea of relating kolam or muggu to challenges in life is a nugget of life's philosophy, which first builds a connection with the self.
In the past, muggu also encouraged collective co-creation. Dr Ramalakshmi says, while women generally worked on a muggu alone, or with a relative or two, daily for festivals or special occasions they came together to create collective kolams. Each woman's smaller individual designs, like pieces of a puzzle, later became part of larger designs in such collective kolam-making. They learnt the art as girls from older and other women in their community. And they practised it every day singularly till it became a part of their life's fabric.
It was one of the many ways women and girls could connect, unleash their emotions, feel happy and evolve socially. It made them share woes and joys and connect with like-minded people. It was almost like forming art-based tribes. Talking about community muggu-making based on her experience, Varalakshmi Vedula (fondly called Lakshmi aunty), reminisced how she and her siblings, cousins and friends would make large muggu during Sankranthi (aka Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan) and other festivals like Pongal or Onam outside their houses or in the streets. This togetherness encouraged socializing in women and children of a particular area.
To keep this ancestral collectivism alive, Sumathy Ramalingam continues making kolam thousands of kilometres away from her place of birth—Madras (as she likes calling Chennai), which is known for community and solo kolam-making during festivals.
Ramalingam relocated to the US more than seventeen years ago, but she continued this practice for her peace of mind. She says, 'I find thirty minutes every morning before I leave for work to do the kolam (on her wood-like flooring). It is a habit now.' Ramalingam now reworks this energy of muggu's collective co-creation to build online and offline workshops for Indian urban and NRI groups. She develops hands-on frameworks that focus on emotional and technical skill-building that teach traditional chikku or sikku (knot), pulli (dot), suzhi, neli, izhai, kambi and other kolams. 'We also have an online community building around the practice, both in the US and in India,' she says. She is also a regular participant in online events like the Spirit of Margazhi Utsav, a series that aims to spread the spirit of Margazhi, the Tamil month (mid-December to mid-January every year) and its festivity. The period ('Margazhi Masam') is known the world over for its kolam and performing art competitions.
MATHEMATICAL BUT CAN BE MEDITATIVE FOR CONCENTRATION
This art form as a habit can be meditative and improve your concentration. More so when our digital and contemporary lives are full of multitasking acts, and we need moments of stillness to ground us. Textile designer Sapna Vedula finds strength in the rice powder. 'Doing it with rice powder makes me feel good and happy. I love the slippery feeling and whiteness. It calms me down. In fact, the days I don't make a muggu, I feel low. It helps me build concentration too,' she says. Marcia Ascher in her paper notes how kolam is a demonstration of dexterity, mental discipline and ability to concentrate. But can you do muggu if you have these skills—or is it the other way around?
Well, it could be both—just like you practise yoga when you are flexible, or you become flexible as you keep doing yoga. One just needs to start, and concentration improves. Sumathy Ramalingam, Dr Ramalakshmi, Sapna Vedula and Varalakshmi Vedula agree.
Sumathy Ramalingam termed muggu as 'mind yoga' that is 'energizing'. She says, 'It gets me going for the next twenty-four hours. It is like a puzzle, I crack codes. Our minds are generally drawn towards cracking them. Once you are hooked on to the challenge, you enjoy the process. It is like driving a car, we work with the pressure of various shoes to change speed, and they change how we use the accelerator. Once you know the trick, it becomes a reflex, and you love driving.' While Dr Ramalakshmi calls muggu meditative. She believes muggu can slow you down like how meditation does.
She says, 'In yoga and pranayama, we concentrate on breathing and thoughts. Muggu is similar. You need to focus and connect the dots and lines with concentration. Or you will go off with the design. It makes me focus. Helps me release my stress.'
For Sumathy Ramalingam, her focused 'meditative flow' comes naturally as she learned the art while growing up, from the elders in her family. She noted that it may require some work to reach that point for someone new to the practice. Her suggestion is to first practise simple muggu on paper, then to graduate to complex, layered shapes. 'The technique is something everyone can learn, but developing it as a skill and then working it as art takes time.'
Her advice to beginners is to let go and believe in balance. 'The trick is in getting the curves tight enough so that they are spilling and loose enough to let go. That delicate balance to get going, the right amount of pressure—I find that fascinating. I always think of such parallels in life. That's really the trick to the whole thing.' Once you figure out this setting with your body, the art becomes flow.
Excerpted with permission from The Art of Decluttering - Ancient Practices for Modern Living by Bhawana Pingali, published by Penguin Random House India.