Rangoli-92-

Chariot Rangoli

Chariots or Carts or Cars-known as Ratham in Telugu or Rath in Hindi-the word brings to our mind, Gods, Kings and Queens...Yes Chariots were once the mode of transport used by the kings, queens and the royalty. 

In India it is believed that Gods and Goddesses travel by Chariots. Kings and queens, royalty used this mode of transport. The chariots were made of wood, gold, silver or other metals. There are so many stories and legends associated with chariots.  In Hindu Mythological stories and other literature there are lots of references to the chariots, varieties, their décor, the horses that are attached to it, their wheels and their speed.

Gods and Goddesses are paraded in the villages or near their temples in Chariots during special temple festivals or other occasions. The famous Rath Yatra or Chariot pulling ceremony of Lord Jagannath of Puri is world famous and is attended by millions every year.

When Gods and Goddesses are driven in their chariots, it is believed that pulling the chariots by the people is very auspicious and many vie for it to at least touch the rope dragging it.

Sun God who is called Prathyaksha Narayana means the God who is visible to us, is believed to travel in a chariot with one wheel and pulled by seven horses. He is worshipped daily by us Hindus but specially so on Ratha Sapthami day. Ratha means chariot and Sapthami means the seventh day of the calendar. I will do a post on all this, that is about Sun God, His Chariot and how we worship him on my other blog on spiritual/religious theme shortly.

We are going to celebrate Ratha Sapthami on 10th February 2011. This day we draw the Chariot Rangoli. This Chariot Rangoli is very famous and drawn on the last two days(3rd and 4th days) of Sankranthi festival. There are so many Rangolis on Chariots. But I have created  one specially for this occasion. Here it is:

        Ratham Muggu for Ratha Sapthami

This is 21 to 1 dots-straight dots-that is first row 21 dots next row 19 leaving one on each side and so on till 1 dot. Then join as shown above

 This is the center part. You can see it clearly.

This is one end.

The flags and borders are not included in the above specified dots. That is I have added them separately. 

As you can see, there are four chariots one on each side. I have drawn chariots with one wheel, Sun God, lamps and silver cups for serving the rice and milk pudding to the Sun God. It is a tradition to offer rice and milk pudding to Sun God on Ratha Sapthami day.