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Rangoli is one of the most popular art forms in India. It is a form of sandpainting decoration that uses finely ground white powder and colours, and is used commonly outside homes in India.

Rangoli can be wall art as well as floor art. The term rangoli is derived from words rang (colour) and aavalli ('coloured creepers' or 'row of colours').

The motifs in traditional Rangoli are usually taken from Nature - peacocks, swans, mango, flowers, creepers, etc. The colours traditionally were derived from natural dyes - from barks of trees, leaves, indigo, etc. However, today, synthetic dyes are used in a range of bright colours. The materials used for Rangoli take on either a flat appearance, when a uniform monolayer of powders are sprinkled or a 3-D effect when different sized grains like cereals, pulses etc are used either in their natural colouring or tinted with natural dyes are used. Some artists use the 3-D effect for borders alone while others create beautiful designs using grains and beads entirely. Coloured powder can be directly used for fancy decorations, but for detailed work, generally the material is a coarse grained powder base into which colors are mixed. The base is chosen to be coarse so that it can be gripped well and sprinkled with good control. The base can be sand, marble dust, saw dust, brick dust or other materials. The colors generally are very fine pigment podwers like gulal/aabir available for Holi or colors (mentioned above) specially sold for rangoli in South India. Various day to day colored powders like indigo used for cloth staining, spices like turmeric, chili, rawa, rice flour, flour of wheat etc are also variously used. Powder colors can be simply mixed into the base. If the base is light like saw dust, it can be used to make floating rangoli on the surface of stagnant water. Sometimes saw-dust or sand is soaked into waterbased color and dried to give various tints. However that probably cannot be used on water. If a rangoli is to be made on water, the color should preferably be insoluble in water. [1]

The designs are symbolic and common to the entire country, and can include geometrical patterns, with lines, dots, squares, circles, triangles; the swastika, lotus, trident, fish, conch shell, footprints (supposed to be of goddess Lakshmi), creepers, leaves, trees, flowers, animals and anthropomorphic figures. These motifs often are modified to fit in with the local images and rhythms. One important point is that the entire pattern must be an unbroken line, with no gaps to be left anywhere for evil spirits to enter.

Originally Rangoli was done in small patterns — 2 feet square — but now entire floor areas of rooms and hotel foyers are covered in intricate detailed designs. Traditionally, such floor decorations were done only on auspicious occasions or festivals. But today, any occasion is good enough — weddings, birthday parties, opening ceremonies, etc. In the deep South and South West of India and Kerala, flowers are used to create floor art.

Rangoli can be improvised into diverse visual art forms. For instance, it can be used to make elaborate images that look as if they were painted (some examples of such Rangolis: [2],[3],[4],[5],[6]. Sprinkling powder by hand is a very laborious and difficult process, however, and it's difficult to render fine details - meaning the image must be quite large.

In Indian cultures, all guests and visitors occupy a very special place, and a rangoli is an expression of this warm hospitality. In particular, the Divali festival is widely celebrated with rangoli, since at this time, people visit each other's homes to exchange greetings and sweets.

Rangoli also has a religious significance, enhancing the beauty of the surroundings and spreading joy and happiness all around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoli