"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser" -John W. Gardner
According to Lance Nelson’s study of Kolam “Bhumi Devi [earth goddess] is our mother. She is everyone’s source of existence. Nothing would exist without her. The entire world depends on her for sustenance and life. So, we draw the kolam first to remind ourselves of her. All day we walk on Bhumi Devi. All night we sleep on her. We spit on her. We poke her. We burden her. We do everything on her. We expect her to bear us and all the activities we do on her with endless patience. That is why we do the kolam.”
Like other traditional art of India, Kolam is also transferred from one generation to another. Grandmothers teach their grandchildren. Some educated women started to keep records of the design so that it can be passed from one generation to other. Gradually new designs are added to the kolam book.
This is a basic kolam design. mostly used as sides of the design. Simple floral design with curved lines to support it. It is symmetrical. The center of the design is a six petaled big flower with sharp petals. Central flower is surrounded by six small flowers. There are curved lines joining the big flowers with the smaller ones.
The design is symmetrical and well balanced. Colors can be used to enhance the design. It comes in the category of dots kolam, flower kolam, pulli kolam and other kolam. The emphasis is given by the size difference in the flower. The center flower bigger than the surrounding once.
