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Nela Muggulu

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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.

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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...... 

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Nela Muggulu

Some more of the special Dhanurmaasam rangolis....

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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...

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Nela Muggulu

In the series of Nela muggulu or the Rangolis drawn especially during the month preceding Sankranti(Pongal) festival in Andhra Pradesh, her is one more. These Rangolis are drawn free hand. The base or starting point for these Rangolis are lines.They can be 2, 3, usually 4 lines. 

The orange lines in the center are drawn first. This is Swastika an auspicious symbol representing Lord Ganesh. The rest of the lines were drawn around it. Well this small motif of swastika can be drawn into a very big Rangoli by adding design on all sides. 

Some times, these Rangolis of lines drawn in the center are surrounded by chain Rangolis or other dot Rangolis depending upon the skill and creativity of the person drawing it.

More in my next post.....

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Nela Muggulu

Here are two more of the special Rangolis for Dhanurmaasam:

The base for these Rangolis are the criss cross grid drawn on four corners. See below

These are free hand drawings. Hope you can understand it. If not mail me and I will post a detailed tutorial.

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Nela Muggulu

Here are some more of the Rangolis drawn specially during the month of Dhanur Maasam. 

This one is a Chakra meaning wheel. The Criss Cross lines in purple colour form the basis  for the design. I have used only double lines. 3 or 4 are also used. See below.

This is a Kurma meaning a tortoise. See how the 4 criss cross lines in black have been placed and then joined(orange colour) to form the figure.

Both Chakra and Kurma are associated with our mythology. It is also a fact that women drew every day things in their Rangolis.

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Nela Muggulu

Some more of the special Sankranti Rangolis:

This is the Astadala Padmam or 8 petalled lotus- a simple version.

This is also another version of 8 petalled Lotus, used on auspicious occasions like Pooja. You can see the tiny feet of Goddess Lakshmi. 

This is also drawn during the Dhanurmaasam. This Rangoli is drawn free hand or with the help of lines and not dots. I have used only two lines. But this is drawn with 4 lines, which makes it more beautiful. This has many variations. I have posted only one. I will try to update with other variations.

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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.

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Nela Muggulu


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

Watch out for more.......

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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.