Diwali Rangoli Designs

Rangoli is the popular floor art of India. It is an auspicious art of decorating courtyards and prayer halls in India drawn mainly by women and girls. Rangoli is a popular art form among Indian woman. Rangoli are painted on the ground in front of houses using rice powder; sometimes supplemented by flower petals and other colorful materials. Some women use rice flour to draw a rangoli which is the traditional medium to be used while others use sandstone or limestone powder. The designs are then colored with various colored powdered dyes. Although this floor-art is known as Rangoli commonly in many parts of India, it is known as Kolam in Tamil Nadu, Muggulu in Andhra pradesh, Rangavalli in Karnataka, Poovidal or Pookalam in Kerala, Chowkpurana in Uttar Pradesh, Madana in Rajasthan, Aripana in Bihar and Alpana in Bengal.During Diwali, Goddess Lakshmi is believed to visit homes that are well lit, so families decorate their homes.

People wear their best clothes or buy new ones, children are given presents and new year greeting are exchanged through visits or Diwali cards. Thus, a Rangoli design is created on doorsteps to welcome everybody. Rangoli exudes a pattern in color that are specific for each region.

The colorful kolam tradition dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization (2500 B.C). Kolams were often drawn with coarse rice flour since it served as a food source to nature’s creatures like ants and crows. Rice flour is seen as an offering to Lakshmi, the goddess of rice and wealth. The goddess has the power to attract prosperity and to prevent poverty from entering the home. In this category you’ll find all kinds of small and big kolam designs which are further categorized for various occasions.

Decoration Ideas

 There are myriad ways to add to the overall appeal of rangoli. The designs of rangoli are created by a combination of different colors. It could be decorated either by colored powders or by colored pastes such as painting colors. You can enhance the beauty of your rangoli pattern by adding some decorative pieces to it, such as the lighted diyas, colorful flower petals and leaves, colored rice grains, colorful pulses, and colored sand. You may place a diya at the center of the rangoli. 

 Designs 

 Originated from Maharashtra, the art of rangoli is popular all over the country and therefore, different designs of rangoli have come into existence. 

The rangoli designs for Diwali have been passed on from one generation to the other, some of them being as old as hundred years. Although the designs vary largely, in different regions of India, the basic approach of the people is common – to please Goddess Lakshmi, so that she enters the home and brings in health, wealth and prosperity. Generally, the rangoli designs are geometrical shapes, proportioned in a balanced way. Geometrical figures such as circles, triangles, squares, ovals and rectangles dominate. Apart from geometrical figures, images of flowers, their petals, trees and creepers are also drawn. 

 Themes 

 The common rangoli themes are the holy symbols like mangal kalash, leaves of Ashoka tree, Om, Swastik symbol, a lighted Deepak, Shree, lotus and other flowers, creepers, trees, rising sun, moon, stars, chakra, fish, birds, elephants, dancing figures, trident, human figures and geometrical figures such as circles, semi-circles, curves, triangles, squares, ovals and rectangles. The footsteps of Goddess Lakshmi entering into the home are designed at the main entrance of the home or near the place of worship, which indicates the entrance of prosperity in the home.