Kolam Art

 Call it "muggu" in Telugu, "kolam" in Tamil, or "rangoli" in Hindi, it is a design drawn typically in the house entrance. The term "rangoli", in recent times, has come to signify designs filled with colors and/or flowers.

The history of "muggu" is interesting. It was done in the past with rice flour (talk about finger agility - to be able to draw such fine lines and designs with rice flour using just your fingers); and in addition to serving as an adornment/decoration making the house entrance more inviting, the flour used to serve as food for tiny creatures such as ants and birds. "Muggu" was one of the examples of the ancient way of living where one tended to all the beings in nature. While most rangolis, at least mine, are drawn using chalk - some still do it the old-fashioned way. 

"Chukkala muggu" or "sikku kolam" means a rangoli that's drawn with dots and the and the lines/designs drawn around the dots are drawn from one end to another in a continuous motion without breaking. Sometimes though, the dots are connected to make patterns rendering the dots invisible.

chukkala muggu

Sankranti muggu - a rangoli drawn for the harvest festival

a line muggu typically drawn during the month of Margasiram

 another line muggu

another chukkala muggu

a muggu for Diwali - dots joined to make patterns

another chukkala muggu where the dots are connected to make patterns