Rangoli-175

Ratham or Chariot Rangoli

This is a free hand drawing. No dots.

Pin It

Rangoli-173

Ratham Muggulu

Here is one more Ratham or chariot Rangoli. this is a traditional one drawn with the help of the criss-cross lines in the corners.

The same one I have decorated in a different way below. these are very simple ones. More complicated designs are drawn which I will share with you in my next posts. One can build upon these basic designs.

Watch out for more....

Pin It

Rangoli-172

Sankranti Special

25 dots-3 rows in center, 23, 21,.....to 3 dots-straight dots ie., one placed below another. This Rangoli reflects the spirit of the festival. 

The clay pots with Pongal(a rice preparation), which is prepared sweet and spicy separately and the recipes vary from house to house. It is then offered to God.

Kites-which are flown during this period mostly in North India and some parts of our state as the winds are favourable for kite flying,

Gobbillu-cow dung shaped into pyramids and decorated with pumpkin flowers, vermilion and turmeric are placed on the Rangolis in the morning and evening for the entire month of Dhanurmaasam and worshipped as Goddess Gauri. Young girls worship her and request for a good husband and happy life. The young girls of the neighbourhood visit all the houses worshipping these Gobbillu. They also sing songs known as Gobbi Paatalu (songs of Gobbillu), while circumbulating the Gobbillu, either clapping hands or with kolatam sticks. These songs are folk songs handed down over generations from the ladies of the house to their girl child. They contain praise of Goddess Gauri, and also requests for what type of husband they want.

Sugarcane-the green ones you can see reflects that new crop has arrived at the households in the villages. This is basically a harvest festival or agricultural festival celebrating harvest as well as the Sun entering the Zodiac sign of Capricorn.

In the center you can see the logs and the fire. This being winter season at its peak, huge bonfires are lit on the first day of the festival known as Bhogi. All the old and unused clutter is cleared from the houses and burnt. Huge logs are placed in the cross roads of the villages, towns or cities and burnt. It is where children, men and women gather together to celebrate.

The star of David or the Sri Chakra I have drawn represents the festival of Rangolis drawn each day morning and evening reverently for a month. This festival is festival of Rangolis too....

Watch out for more.....

Pin It

Rangoli-171

Ratham Muggulu

These are the traditional Ratham or Chariot Rangolis, drawn on 3rd and 4th day of the Sankranti festival.  on 3rd day the Ratham is drawn towards the house-i.e Lord is entering the house. On fourth day it is drawn going out-send off to Lord.

This is the time(whole month before Sankranti) when the local deities of the temples are brought out of temples, fully decked in fabulous and rich silks, jewellery made of gold and precious gems and decorated with flowers are paraded on chariots enabling all those people who cannot go to temples for various reasons, a glimpse of Lord. They are accompanied by the horses, elephants or other such things owned by the Deities(temples), artists performing various acts and traditional arts, musicians singing, dancers dancing with much pomp and show.

When the deities are paraded every one comes out to pray and catch a glimpse. Ladies come out with offerings of flowers, fruits, coconut,  turmeric, vermilion, beetle leaves and nut powder, some money etc. they light camphor and give aarati to the deities. Every one is then blessed by the priests. It is some thing to be seen. I miss the small town/village life where the festivals used to be celebrated with much enthusiasm. 

The 4 lines in orange colour are drawn first and form the base. Then they are joined(green lines).

 This is the simplest form-one tier chariot. 

 This is two tier chariot with 3 cells or rooms

 Slightly varied form of joining the lines.

This is 3 tiered one with 6 cells.

Actually in towns and villages where one has huge front yards, huge chariots are drawn with many tiers and cells. The bigger the more appreciation from friends and neighbours. I will try to post more complicated ones and other types of Ratham drawn with dots, free hand etc.

Watch out for more....

Pin It

Rangoli-170

Nela Muggulu

Watch out for more...


Pin It

Rangoli-169

Nela Muggulu

One more of the path ways or Daarula Muggu. This time a bit complicated one. Many of such blocks are joined intricately to get a complex and bigger Rangolis which are very beautiful.

Pin It

Rangoli-168

Nela Muggulu

Remember, I told you about the Daarula Muggu or the Pathways Rangoli. Here are the previous posts.

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2011/12/rangoli-144_21.html

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2011/12/rangoli-145.html

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2011/12/rangoli-146.html

Here are some more. The space in between the bars shows the path which is free to travel. If these paths are barred that means the way is blocked. I have given simple blocks.

In my next posts I will give more complicated ones. Watch out...... 

Pin It

Rangoli-167

Nela Muggulu

Some more of the special Dhanurmaasam rangolis....

Pin It

Rangoli-166

Nela Muggulu

It is a bit difficult to draw these Rangolis, which are drawn with the help of lines. I have tried to give you the steps for basic Rangoli here:

 Step 1: Draw 4 parallel lines vertically.

Step 2: Draw four parallel lines horizontally at right angle to the vertical ones, crossing them and  passing through the center.

 Step 3: Draw cross lines as shown above.

Final Step: One can draw pumpkins and sugar canes as above or paddy ears as below

Watch out for more...

Pin It

Rangoli-146

Nela Muggulu


Here are some more of the Pathways Rangoli or Daarula Muggu drawn on Sankranti festival:

These two are again single blocks, can be drawn as it is, but usually are only a part of huge design with more of such blocks of different designs. 

I will try to post a bigger design of intricate path ways which drawn on the festival day.

Pin It

Rangoli-145

Nela Muggulu


Here is one more Darula Muggu or Pathways Rangoli. Slightly different from the previous one.

Watch out for more.......

Pin It

Rangoli-144

Nela Muggulu

Some more of Nela Muggulu. These are all drawn using lines, no dots at all.

This is known as Daarula Muggu or Pathways. This is drawn on the eve of Sankranti festival and also on festival day. Path ways means showing the path to Lord to enter into our homes. Some paths are kept open and some closed.

This is only a single block and only one variety I have drawn here. This Rangoli is actually drawn bigger according the size of the front yard. It will have many blocks of such path ways which are complicatedly meshed together. They are very intricate, difficult to draw but very beautiful to look at. These Rangolis require lot of intelligence, patience and skill to draw. But very beautiful to look at.

I will try to post other varieties and more bigger ones.

My request to all those who happen to see this post is, kindly mail me photos or drawings of such type of Rangolis and any details known about them please. I am trying to save these for the next generations.

Pin It

Rangoli-143

Nela Muggulu

Nela Muggulu means those Rangolis which are specially drawn during the auspicious month of Dhanurmasam-that is the month before the festival of Sankranti  or Pongal. Sankranti is an agricultural festival, celebrating thanks giving to Sun God, for the bountiful agricultural produce. This is also the month when Lord Vishnu is worshipped. 

The Rangolis drawn during this month are special, meant for Thanking Sun God and also for praying to Lord Vishnu. These are drawn using lines (no dots) and are peculiar to Andhra State. The people of Krishna Guntur, Prakasam and especially Coastal districts draw these designs. But now these are all disappearing and only modern Rangolis with dots are being drawn.

My previous posts on this Rangolis are here:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Nela%20Muggulu

 The leaves denote the crop or agricultural produce.

 These are pumpkins, a favourite of our state.

These denote the Paddy Ears.

There are many more like these which my maternal Grandmother used to draw. But alas! I could not note them down and now most of this type of Rangoli is disappearing.

My request to all those who happen to see this post is, kindly mail me photos or drawings of such type of Rangolis and any details known about them please. I am trying to save these for the next generations.

Pin It

Rangoli-87

Sankranti Rangoli-3

Here are some more designs.

This is one of the square designs. I have kept it very simple. I will post more elaborate ones later. See how the four horizontal and vertical lines have been used. 

Here are two more simple but small designs;

These two small designs are known ad "Gade"  in Telugu. Gade means granary-the place where they store the grain after harvest till its use. Why these designs  are so called I have no clue. A granary in South India is made of bamboo and coated with mud with a slanting top above. The top may be covered with dry grass. 

Since India is a country of villages and most of our lives are very closely associated with agriculture, it is no wonder that the things like the tolls used for farming, cattle etc-related to agriculture form part of our Rangoli designs.  This is one example.

How intricate these designs look. Again I have kept them very simple. They can still be developed upon to get a bigger Rangoli. I will post bigger versions of these some time

So Keep watching my blog for more interesting designs...

Rangoli-86

Sankranti Rangolis-2

This is second in the series of Sankranthi Muggulu. But before posting next series, I want to answer a question raised by Sri Sandhyagaru. 

• The Designs drawn using lines (straight, horizontal or criss cross lines) are known as Dravida Muggulu or the Rangolis of Dravidians. This sort of designs are also drawn by the people of Tamilnadu during this auspicious month which they call it as Margazhi. 
• However some special designs which are drawn during this month and also during the four days of festival are peculiar to Andhra region. 
• These designs were once drawn during the entire month before Sankranti festival, including Sankranthi. Also on Ratha Sapthami day, which comes after Sankranthi, when the Sun is worshipped.

Thanks a lot Sandhyagaru and other friends who are appreciating my work. I want to keep this art form alive for next generation.

Now for the next series of designs.

These are small designs but a bit bigger than those posted in my previous ones.

This can actually be further improved upon depending on the space and our creativity.

This is one of the designs I drew. I have just put some turmeric and flowers

This is a square design. Here too I have put some turmeric, red coloured vermilion, flowers and red berries. These Rangolis are not coloured.

Rangoli-85

Sankranti Rangolis-1

India as you know is a country of villages with agriculture as the main occupation. Many of our rural folk are dependent on agriculture and its allied branches like cattle, poultry etc. No matter what all our lives are still related to those roots-our villages and our lands either directly or indirectly.

Sankranti is a very important festival for all South Indians. Specially so for the people of Andhra Pradesh known as Andhrulu who speak the language of Telugu. This is basically a festival related to agriculture. We can call it as harvest festival. Crops like rice, sugar cane, pulses, turmeric, castor, groundnut, sesame etc which are grown in my state are harvested and the granaries are full of grains. Rural folk are now free for some time from all those chores related to farming and agriculture till next cycle of farming activities. So it is a good time for celebrations.

Sankramana means the Sun entering a Zodiac sign. Sun enters one Zodiac Sign and remains there for a month. He finishes his tour of all signs in a year. The month Sun stays in the Zodiac sign Sagittarius is considered very auspicious. This falls in middle of December and continues till mid January. This month as I have already written in one of my posts is known as Dhanur Maasam. 

During this whole month, though it is winter time and quite cold, women of the house get up very early  in the morning. They clean the front yards and sprinkle cow dung mixed in water. When it dries, elaborate and beautiful designs  are drawn using rice flour or lime stone powder. All this has to be completed before Sun rise.

These designs are known as Muggu in Telugu. These are drawn for Lord Vishnu (one of the Trinities) who is said to visit Earth (during this auspicious month) early in the morning   before Sun rise. It is believed that the beautiful designs, beautiful surroundings attract Lord into our houses. So while drawing these designs, one of the Lords 1000 names, or any Mantra is chanted silently. Some people also sing songs praising the Lord. 

There are some designs specially drawn during this month. These are known as Sankranthi Muggulu or Nela Muggulu. Nela means month and Muggulu means the designs. These designs have some symbolic meaning depicting the spiritual and religious meaning of this festival on one hand and reflect the various aspects of the life of the rural folk on the other hand.

I feel very sad that most of these designs have been lost. Over the past two decades or so, women are drawing those huge fancy designs using dots as these can be filled with colours. Traditional designs are almost now not known to younger generations.

However the traditional designs drawn on this occasion are drawn using lines. No dots are used. Long thin tube like structures made from tin, iron or bamboos have a set of holes (8 to 9 rows) in them. These are known as Muggu gottaalu (tubes). These are filled with the white powder(rice or lime stone) and rolled on the floor. Dotted lines are formed on the floor. These are joined to get the desired shape and design. Experts of these designs draw directly with out the help of these tubes.

These designs are intricate and geometrical in nature. Two four or more parallel lines are drawn to get square, rectangular,  triangles and circles. Then they are further modified or improved upon to form very beautiful and intricate designs. Thin lines and drawn as near to each other as possible spells out the expertise of the artist.  Straight lines and curved lines are used.

Designs contain geometrical patterns, twigs containing leaves, grain ears, creepers or vines, vegetables like pumpkin, onion, gourds etc, sun, moon, stars  animals or birds which are vehicles to Gods and Goddesses like, peacock, tortoise, snake, tiger, lion,  mats, chairs or thrones, chariots  are drawn to welcome and seat the Gods and Goddesses. These represent the daily life of the rural folk. 

The most important design is Chariot. I will write about each design as I post them starting from today. Here are some:

These are the horizontal or vertical parallel lines and a mesh of these two lines used as base for drawing designs.

Here four horizontal and four vertical lines have been used to draw a small design.

One more design using the horizontal and vertical lines.

Here I have drawn using the powder on floor. Drawing on paper is quite easier than on floor.

These are very basic designs. I have drawn very simple and small designs. You will be amazed to see how big and intricate designs are drawn using simple parallel lines. 

These designs are then decorated using red or yellow earth as well as flowers, turmeric and vermilion.

Practise these small ones. I am going to post more bigger and intricate designs in my next posts.