During my childhood times, especially during the months of December to February, every night after the dinner all the women in our village will engage in an artistic activity which perhaps will never occur in any part of the world except in India. This is an activity of drawing several designs with themes centered on flowers, trees, peacocks, divine figures and some complex geometrical arcs etc. connected in a beautiful fashion on ground in front of their house. They draw it by using fine power which used to be rice flour by right but changed to some other suitable substances these days. They use a myriad of colour combinations in preparing these designs. They are called as "Muggu" in Telugu, Kolam in Tamil and goes by respective local names in different states of India. The main purpose of this serves the both spiritual and material need for the home - i.e. it brings or receives auspicious blessings from the cosmos and gives a exemplary beauty to your place. I used to roam around and enjoy the picturesque designs of these "Muggulu" drawn by our neighbors. Here is the example one such design drawn by my mother during one of the biggest festivals we celebrate - i.e. Sankranthi or Pongal in January 2015. My mother is an gifted artist in this field and she used to maintain at least Two or Three books of these Kolam drawings. It will give them the following expertise in general.
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| Muggu drawn by my mother in front of my houise |
- The first step in these drawings is putting/and making the required dots which used to connect to make these Muggus. This will help them to memorize easily and also to document and to teach others in simpler way.
- Area selection - Depending on the size of the design, one needs to mentally calculate how much area is required for these Muggus which is again a subtle skill develops in soul.
- Colour combination - One of the striking feature you will immediately recognize is how efficiently colours have been used to enhance the beauty of these Kolams. A young girl who learns this arts shows very keen interest and gets expertise in selecting colors and it will help them to leverage the same aesthetic in every part of their life.
Sad part of the story is, in present busy life no one or to say very few are engaged in this practice. When visited my place recently there were hardly any women who were doing this. Definitely you can't see any young girls who participates now either because of their studies or blame it on their busy city lives. This slowly effects the fabric of the culture and down the the time the whole art will get lost and only remains is a past glory. The present day education and media also plays a diminishing role where it instigates a thought that these are all like taboo practices with old fashion but this is not true. One's existence is very much related to their culture and it is the duty of an individual to carry one these practices and to pass it to future generation. It has got many subtle benefits as explained earlier which helps both in individual and society at large. Here are some thoughts -
- Mothers should engage their kids to participate and learn in these kinds of activities.
- Schools and colleges should arrange social sessions where students will learn these kind of social traditional arts along with their regular training.
- Governments should arrange a cultural festivals where these traditional arts should be at display and encourage active participation and healthy competition among the youth.
Hope the youth carry on their learning of traditional arts such as these and shows a rich diversity of India wherever they goes. More of this kind of observation will follow soon on my blog ..
