Entry for mArgazhi kOlam contest

The rangOli was created on a grid of 29 horizontal rows and 35 vertical colimns. Out of the 1015 dots on the rectangular grid 614 (60.5 Wacko were actually used for the patterns. The unused dots are shown as small black dots.

This is a symmetric, stylized and symbolic pattern, not drawn to scale.

1) At the base are two 8x13 single line sona patterns connected at the bottom. The numbers 8 and 13 were chosen as these are virahAnka-hEmachandra (Fibonacci) numbers (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,...). Any growth in nature involves such numbers. Since sankrAnti or pongal is a harvest festival of nature, this choice, I believe, is apt. This is color-coded by pink in the dots figure and has 215 dots. On this base is a simple common pattern in light and dark blue. It has also four little lamps at the corners. 21 dots were used for all these.

2) At the two ends are two stylized pieces of sugarcane, indicated by violet color (22 dots each). It is made with a single line.

3) At the center is the pongal pot ( brownish orange) with a blue chikku kOlam as a decoration and reddish lines. The pot has 133 dots. On the top of the pot are the greyish white "bubbles of prosperity" with 31 dots. The pot outline has two lines of the same color. The blue decoration has only one line. The small red dots form the red decorative lines.

4) At the bottom of the pot, on either side is a single line lamp as seen sideways. Each lamp has 7 dots. The color code is dark brown.

5) Since sankrAnti is a sun festival marking the northward movement of the sun (unfortunately late by nearly 21 days and sad to say, we are still following the wrong date), on either side of the pot is a chariot pattern with the red sun in the center. Each chariot is made of 56 dots. This is in light and dark brown lines.

6) Above the chariots are the svAstika symbol, clockwise (savya) and anti-clockwise (apasavya). I included the reverse svAstika sign for two reasons -(i) to preserve the left-right symmetry, and (ii) sankrAnti is not only a festival day of joy, but also a poignant day of remembrance for the departed souls, which is generally observed in the "apasavya" fashion. These are in red. Each has 25 dots.

All the chikku patterns are of the woven type (up and down lines). The conception, drawing and execution took about ten hours spread over a few days. Since in the announcement there is no mention of any "medium" or "powder-only", I am submitting this pattern and I hope it will be accepted.

I am sure you will all enjoy this symbolic drawing for sankrAnti and pongal.

I wish all other contestants a very merry time!

Regards! - mOhana

Distribution of dots (total dots in the rectangle 35 x 29 = 1015, sugarcane 22x2 = 44, base 13x8 =104x2 = 208 + 7 = 215, central pattern on the base 17, lamps 7x2 = 14, sun 25x2 = 50, chariot 56x2 = 112, pot 133, bubbles 31, total dots used 614)

Comments

aarchi's picture

Amazing ji. Very lovely kolam You have included all the elements of pongal, pots, sugarcane, sungod ratham, diya very beautiful.

jayamohan's picture

Nice to see a conceptual rangoli from you after a long gap! You have explained the Sankaranthi theme very well and brought them aptly in the design!

ammuchandhini's picture

Wow....heartful thanks for making such a wonderful creation jkm sir...hats of to ur effort...thanks u for all the details Smile

Shibrudha's picture

Lovely made rangoli.
Thanks for ur detailed write up.

I regret i have not learnt the chikku kolam at all Sad

BalaChandrasekaran's picture

fabulous sir.

umaraja's picture

well created with all pongal elements,, gud write up,,, thanks for d details,, all d best sir

drshireesha's picture

Amazing creation sir..Thanx for the detailed explanation of the sankranthi theme..Hatsoff to u sir..:)

GOMATHI_KRISHNA's picture

Wow! Fabulous creation sir, The write up about the sankaranthi is wonderful sir. Creating everything with chikku kolam is amazing... all d best sir...

chandy's picture

Thank you for sharing so many details with us. Can try this kolam on floor. LOve it

lakshmiraghu's picture

amazing creation mOjanaji.. thanks for the msg i like the svAstika msg.......all the best.. :party:

dibbutn's picture

Wow what a detailed description. So glad to see your entry here sir after soooooooo long. Missed your creations a lot. Lovely creation sir. Thanks for the description.

vijaysowmya's picture

Excellent description sir. Nice to see your wonderful creation after a gap. Well made thematic rangoli. All the best !!!

Suguna Murugesan's picture

wonderful creation sir....after a long gap lovely treat.....excellent description Smile

manivasuki62's picture

fantastic creation sir. pongal pot is soooo beautiful

anirudh's picture

superb and a thoughtful design Sir... the concept neatly designed and explained in a detailed manner, thanks for sharing the minute details around each of it....btw its added into my library Smile ...all the best!!!

You are back with a bang!!!... looking for more from you Sir Smile

subashini's picture

Amazing creation.I like pot and sugarcane.and like to use in future.

sudhabalakrishnan's picture

Mohanaji, Extremely good, I liked the design of the pongal pots, chariots and the lamp. very well done. When i looked at the thumbnail it looked like a corss stitch design. Wish you all the best.

Lata's picture

Oh my! What a display! This is in syn with my first thought about asking for a Chikku kolam in the pongal theme, for this contest! Believe it or not, I knew you might be interested since you like challenges so much Smile I enjoyed gazing at both the grid of dots, and the finished piece for a long time. We always learn quite a few things from your works, Mohanaji. I never knew Sankranthi is also seen as a day of remembrance for the departed souls. The pair of chariots around the Pongal pot look beautiful, as do the pretty sugarcanes.

Speaking of medium, I deliberately did not mention the medium Biggrin I was hoping to see submissions from few of our members like you and Subashini madam. I think one contest with the powders per year is enough (Diwali rangoli contest). :bigsmile:
Thanks so much for treating us to a great Pongal chikku kolam. :star:

anirudh's picture

Congratulations Sir!!!

Oh lata, i missed to catch this tag :), missed one PS entry Sad .... hope to publish a real-one shortly Biggrin Blum 3 Wink

vijaysowmya's picture

Congratulations sir!!!

Suguna Murugesan's picture

congratulations sir Smile :party:

GOMATHI_KRISHNA's picture

Congratulations sir, First I thought u r the deserved person to get First Prize sir. Your deep research about the Sankaranthi festival and casually u have drawn everything in chikku kolam made me to thought like that. I have to learn a lot from you sir. Once again my hearty congratulations for winning the Special Prize sir... Smile

sudhabalakrishnan's picture

Congatulations Mohanaji, chikku kolam is bit difficult to draw in bigger version normally, doing it in PC is really great

umaraja's picture

congrats sir

lakshmiraghu's picture

congratulations mOhanaji... Smile :love: :party: :party:

jkmrao's picture

I thank each and everyone of you for your kind and encouraging words of appreciation. It is a nice feeling to be recognized and applauded by my peers, many of whom are experts in this art. I am a newbie in this field. I thank the organizers of ikOlam for this opportunity. My congratulations go to all the winners and other participants. Regards! - mOhana

dibbutn's picture

Congrats sir

subashini's picture

congratulation sir for winning the special prize.