RangoliRangoli names across India
Decorating the floor at the entrance is one of the most widely shared customs in India, and almost every region has its own name, material and style for it. The idea is the same everywhere: a clean, decorated threshold welcomes guests and good fortune.
| Name | Where | What is special |
|---|---|---|
| Rangoli | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and much of north India | Coloured powders, often in round designs filled with colour. |
| Kolam | Tamil Nadu | Lines of white rice flour drawn around a grid of dots, renewed every morning. |
| Muggu (muggulu) | Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | Close to kolam. Sankranti is its great season. |
| Pookalam | Kerala | A carpet of flower petals, laid during Onam. |
| Alpana (alpona) | West Bengal and Assam | Painted with the fingers in white rice paste for Lakshmi Puja and other festivals. |
| Aripan | Bihar, especially Mithila | Rice paste designs drawn for pujas and family ceremonies. |
| Mandana | Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh | White chalk or lime patterns on floors and walls plastered with red clay. |
| Chowk purana | Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh | Square designs in flour, drawn where a puja or a wedding ritual will take place. |
| Jhoti or chita | Odisha | White rice paste motifs on floors and walls, especially for Lakshmi Puja. |
| Aipan | Uttarakhand (Kumaon) | White rice paste on a red clay base, at doorsteps and puja places. |
| Sathiya | Gujarat | Auspicious designs drawn at the threshold, renewed for festivals. |
Powder, paste or petals
The styles fall into three groups by material. Dry powder, as in rangoli, kolam and muggu, is drawn fresh and swept away. Wet rice paste, as in alpana, aripan, jhoti and aipan, is painted on and dries into a white design that lasts for days. Flowers, as in the pookalam, are laid for a single day.
What they share
- They are drawn at the threshold, in the courtyard or at the place of worship.
- They are renewed: daily in some regions, for each festival in others.
- The designs are passed down within families, usually from mothers and grandmothers.
- Most are symmetrical and are built outward from a centre or from a grid.
Reading the table
The table gives the name most often used in each region, where it is made and the feature that sets it apart. The borders between styles are not sharp. A family from Andhra Pradesh living in Chennai may call the same morning design muggu at home and kolam to the neighbours, and a Marwari household in Kolkata may draw a mandana for Diwali beside a neighbour's alpana. Cities mix all of them, and the coloured powder rangoli of western India is now seen at festivals in every state.
Try the styles yourself
- Line and dot designs in the manner of kolam and muggu: start with our dot rangoli page and the white line flower.
- Flower carpets in the manner of the pookalam: see Onam pookalam and flower rangoli.
- Colour-filled rangoli: the easy designs are the place to begin, and rangoli by festival shows which to draw when.
Customs and names vary from district to district and from family to family, so you may know a name or a detail that differs from this short list.
- Dot rangoliThree designs made by joining a grid of dots, step by step.
- Border designsFive strips to frame a rangoli or run along a wall.
- Easy rangoliDesigns for beginners and children, with a practice plan.
- Diwali rangoliLotus, diyas and Lakshmi footprints for the festival of lights.
- Pongal and SankrantiSun designs and kolam for the harvest festivals.
- Onam pookalamFlower carpets: designs, flowers and how to lay them.
- How to make rangoliFrom an empty floor to a finished design, step by step.
- Colours and materialsPowders, flowers, grains and home-made colours.
- Rangoli by festivalWhich design to draw for each festival through the year.
- Competition tipsPlan, practise and finish on time at a school or society contest.
- Flower rangoliPetal rangoli for any occasion: flowers, quantities and laying.
- Colour combinationsWhich colours to put together, on light and dark floors.
- Flats and small spacesCorridors, landings, trays and tables: rangoli without a courtyard.
- Problems and fixesWind, smudges, uneven shapes, stains and how to deal with them.