The traditional daily kolam is drawn with rice flour mainly because:
- A.It lasts for several weeks without fading
- B.Ants, insects and birds can feed on it
- C.It is the only white material available in the south
- D.It hardens into a permanent coating on the floor
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B. Coarsely ground rice flour is pinched between finger and thumb and released in a thin stream, which makes it the easiest material to draw with, but the tradition gives a second reason: ants, insects, sparrows and squirrels eat the flour through the day, so the morning drawing is treated as a small daily offering to other creatures. Its disappearance is expected and is part of the practice.
Option A and option D are wrong because the kolam is deliberately impermanent and is swept away or walked over by evening, then drawn again at dawn. Option C is wrong because chalk powder, lime, white stone powder and coloured sands are all used as well, especially for festival patterns. The same thinking explains why the pookalam of Kerala uses fresh petals and the alpana of Bengal a rice paste: the material in every region is something the kitchen or the field already provides and nature can take back.
Read the full article: Floor Art of India: Rangoli, Kolam, Alpana and Mandana
Practice Questions
View allThe floor art known as kolam belongs chiefly to which state?
- A.Kerala
- B.Tamil Nadu
- C.Karnataka
- D.Odisha
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The kolam is the Tamil threshold drawing, made each morning in white rice flour on ground that has been swept and sprinkled.
Read the full explanation →Mandana, drawn in white chalk over a red ochre ground, is the traditional floor and wall art of:
- A.Maharashtra
- B.Assam
- C.Rajasthan
- D.Punjab
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Mandana reverses the usual method: the floor or the lower wall is first washed with geru, the red ochre of the region, and the design is then laid over it in white chalk or lime, so the figure is light on a red field.
Read the full explanation →Alpana, painted with a paste of ground rice, is associated with which state?
- A.West Bengal
- B.Gujarat
- C.Telangana
- D.Himachal Pradesh
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Alpana, or alpona, is applied wet: rice is soaked, ground into a white paste and painted on the floor with a cloth wick or with the fingers, which lets the artist draw flowing creepers, paddy sheaves, lotuses, owls and footprints.
Read the full explanation →The aipan art of white rice paste on a red geru ground belongs to which state?
- A.Himachal Pradesh
- B.Uttarakhand
- C.Sikkim
- D.Jharkhand
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In aipan the surface is first washed with geru, the local red ochre, and the pattern is then drawn on it with a white paste of ground rice using the fingers.
Read the full explanation →The pookalam, a carpet of flower petals laid on the ground, is made during which festival?
- A.Pongal
- B.Bihu
- C.Onam
- D.Ugadi
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A pookalam is laid in concentric rings of petals, leaves and whole flowers, and a fresh one is made on each of the ten days of the festival, growing larger as the days pass, with competitions for the best design in schools, offices and neighbourhoods.
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