Ajji’s Kolam

This ritual set is created as a promise to oneself and an act of honoring and remembering the matriarchs who taught this craft.

• The set includes a carefully handcrafted, hand-painted kolam bowl, a jar of rangoli powder, a kolam book of inherited designs, a funnel to put the rangoli powder into the jar, and a box to hold all these, with a pocket for memories and designs.

• Each step serves as a container for intention, memory, and presence.

Inspiration

• Kolam is a traditional floor-drawing ritual practiced in South Indian households.

• It has existed in South Indian culture for around 6000 years.

• It is passed down through generations, often taught by grandmothers.

• Kolam functions as a reminder of the matriarchs who taught this art form, of who the user is, and where the user comes from.

• It represents care, love, repetition, and impermanence, allowing mindfulness to emerge through making.

Process

• The ritual is practiced on Sankranthis and on the grandmother’s birthdays.

• Start by setting an intention, a promise to remember, a promise to stay true to who we are.

• Then select a design, or take inspiration from one that feels right to you in that moment, from the book (which holds some of the favourite inherited designs).

• Pour the rangoli powder from the jar into the bowl. This step symbolizes the transfer of knowledge. Take a moment and observe it flow from the jar into the bowl.

• On a flat surface, such as a floor, tabletop, or ground, draw the design using rangoli powder

  with your hands. Feel the grains of the powder, observe the lines, symmetry & imperfections.

• In this moment, embody the feeling of togetherness of Sankranthi, of being with your grandmother or your loved one, and embrace their celebration as your own.

Outcome

• The ritual becomes a way to cherish, appreciate, and celebrate togetherness, people, and time through action.

• It also provides relaxation through awareness and reduces anxiety by grounding in the present moment.

• The ritual serves as a container that holds touch, art, intention, and promises to oneself.

• Sometimes rituals are passed down. Sometimes they are created when life demands it.

While rooted in my relationship with my grandmothers, Ajji’s Kolam is also a grounding ritual that connects the present moment to their history.

It allows grief, gratitude, comfort, love, and celebration
to coexist through making.

It offers comfort, continuity, and presence.