Kolam

thumb|Traditional kolam made with rice flour and kaavi borders for a house function at Tamil Nadu, India|260x260px thumb|upright=0.9|Traditional Agrahara kolam made with soaked rice flour or coloured rice for the festival of [[Thai Pongal, taken from a house in Singapore]] Kolam (, ), also known as Muggu (), Tarai Alangaram () and Rangole (), is a form of traditional decorative art that is drawn by using rice flour as per age-old conventions. It is also drawn using white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often along with natural or synthetic color powders. It is a part of the South Indian culture and found across all South Indian States. It can be found in some parts of Goa and Maharashtra. Since the South Indian diaspora is worldwide, the practice of kolam is found around the world, including in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries. A kolam or muggu is a geometrical line drawing composed of straight lines, curves and loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. It is widely practised by female family members in front of their house entrance, although men and boys also practice this tradition. The similar regional versions of kolam with their own distinctive forms are known by different names in India: in Maharashtra, in Mithila, alpona in West Bengal and and in Kannada in Karnataka. More complex kolams are drawn and colors are often added during festival days, holiday occasions and special events.. Although kolam is sometimes referred to as a type of rangoli, the two terms refer to related but distinct traditions of Indian floor art: kolam typically denotes the daily geometric and symmetrical rice-flour line drawings practiced across South India, and is usually monochrome or lightly colored, whereas rangoli is a broader pan-Indian term for colourful floor and entrance patterns created on special occasions and festivals, with more emphasis on vibrant coloured powders and motifs.

==Practice and belief== thumb|upright=0.9|3x3 symmetry 9 goddesses swastika kolam with a single cycle by Nagata S, each of which corresponds to one of the nine Devi (goddesses) of the Vedic system Kolams or muggulu are thought to bring prosperity to homes. In millions of households in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, women draw kolams in front of their home entrance every day at the break of dawn. Traditionally kolams are drawn on the flat surface of the ground with white rice flour. The drawings get walked on throughout the day, washed out in the rain, or blown around in the wind; new ones are made the next day. Each morning before sunrise, the front entrance of the house, or wherever the kolam may be drawn, is swept clean, sprinkled with water, thereby making for a flat surface. The kolams are generally drawn while the surface is still damp so the design will hold better. Instead of rice flour (/), white stone powder is occasionally used for creating Kolam; cow dung is also used to wax the floors. In some cultures, cow dung is believed to have antiseptic properties and hence provides a literal threshold of protection for the home. It also provides contrast with the white powder.