Learn kolam 21 dots step by step
21 dots big kolam for Pongal kolam designs with dots | Sankranti rangoli designs with dots
After placing the 21 by 11 dot idukku pulli or udu pulli dot grid . Identify the six places where the pattern as shown in the first two images is to be drawn.
Next image showing showing a step in this chukki rangoli big size
The distance between the dots decides the size of the dot grid. So we can adjust depending upon the space available. If we have more space we can place them far apart. Then around the central pattern draw the connecting the dots as shown in the next four images
After forming the six Tiger claws and the patterns at the centre , the remaining dots are connected to form rhombus like shapes to complete the kolam.
Add colours to complete the kolam . Filling colours for this kolam needs at least one hour. Hence such designs are reserved for festivals like Pongal or Sankranti. They are rarely drawn for Diwali when we have different kind of rangoli.
I have tried to add as many images as possible to make the steps easy to learn and practice.
This is one of the most popular rangoli designs drawn in our family for Pongal kolam or Sankranti muggulu. Just like they have family songs in movies, this kolam or muggu as my mother used to say is a must for Sankranti festival decoration. My mother learnt this from her mother and so we can see how old this kolam is . Probably more than a hundred years old. My mother used to say that there was a lot of competition as to who used to draw big and beautiful kolam for Sankranti in her place ( Vizianagaram near Vishakapattinam ). So she and here brother used to spy the houses in their streets and the adjacent streets to see what others were drawing early in the morning. In fact I understand that it was my grandmother who sent them on that mission , so that she could decide what she wanted to draw for the festival. She invariably chose this one . Though it uses a big dot grid 21 dots to 11 dots it is a very simple rangoli design because it uses the basic geometric shapes of rhombus, and straight lines. It is called Mandrakappa in Telugu because it represents the claws of a scorpion. The beauty of the kolam depends of the smoothness of the claws or curved lines because all other lines are straight. This rangoli is suitable for filling up of colours also as is evident from the picture showing the kolam with colours filled. While filling colours we have to do it patiently and carefully.
Mrs. Uma Chandrasekar from Mumbai sent me a mail asking about "Puli nagam " kolam. I understood it as pulli naagam and serpent drawn with dots for Naga Chaturthi and sent her the link to that kolam . She clarified that it was "Tiger's claws " that she was referring to. Since I was not aware of a kolam with that name, I asked my elder sister also living in Mumbai, Ghatkopar and she told me that this muggu Mandrakappa is also called Tiger's claws in Tamil.
For this kolam muggu , we cannot change the claws patterns , six of them in the kolam. We can change the remaining patterns at the centre and other dots . We can have various combinations of patterns and the result is hundreds of kolam with the same theme.
These "family kolam " no one knows when they came into existence. We have no recorded version in the notebook or book. Just as the Vedas were handed over from generation to generation from scholars to the students only through the audio format. I understand that they were made to repeat the stanzas again and again the memorise . Similarly these kolam were probably memorised by seeing the mothers or elders draw the kolam . Our mother and grandmother drew many very big rangoli with dots for Sankranti or Pongal but we have not recorded them in any note book consequently my sisters and I try to record what we remember and recollect.