Free hand rangoli designs - mandala art

Rangoli designs - theme - mandala or circular patterns

The word mandala or mandalam(in Tamil ) has many meanings - a circle, a halo, a cycle of  40 or 48 days or the circumference of a circle. (There may be other meanings also).   Since the theme is primarily rangoli, let us confine our discussion to rangoli patterns or designs.  I find that the terms mandala or rangoli are freely used for rangoli designs in many countries outside India just as we use rangoli or kolam in India.  Since the word mandala is related to circle, let us have some circular designs as theme in this post.

Mandala type rangoli for Independence Day

The image on the top,  in this series on primarily mandala (circular type) rangoli.  Of course there have been one or two exceptions. This one with the white, green and orange combination because celebration of Independence Day is only a few days away.  It is different from other designs I have drawn for this special day.  All other designs have been drawn with white powder and decorated with green and orange colours.  Hence this one is a little different.  There is a separate post for Independence Day and Republic Day                                                                       
 The rangoli design above has been drawn using  only spiral patterns.  I have used violet, indigo (?), blue, green, yellow, orange and red just for a change to get a rainbow free hand rangoli. It is a coincidence that white  has all these colours is at the centre.

Mandala type free hand rangoli

The design on the top I have decided to include in this post  because I felt that it belonged here with its almost circular nature.  As usual draw the central floral patterns and expand the design according to your imagination.  Finally added some spiral patterns with flower like designs on the top.   Add bright colours like green orange and pink to complete the design.



After drawing a rangoli that is not exactly  a circle, I am back to my theme with this design below that is a mandala.  The previous rangoli is erased and the mixture of all the colours form a purple hue. I have used  that to form an annular pattern with some patterns on it made with the forefinger.  ( I have stated many times and have also shared my opinion on various websites that I find it very painful to erase a rangoli because of the time and effort we have to put in - but we have no choice given the ephemeral nature of this art.). These two designs are also suitable for those looking for some new kolam designs for Margazhi.

At the top the first rangoli in this post .  At the centre as usual  we  have a floral design that is surrounded by a circular pattern so that we can expand the design radially to maintain the circular design ( all patterns in this rangoli including circles are hand drawn and hence any imperfection may please be excused).  Around the circle draw floral patterns in many layers - in this case purple, brown, blue, red, white and green colours are used to expand the rangoli radially.  The colours are added as shown and where possible two shades are used.  The outermost portion is decorated with a simple border to get the image as shown above. This circular pattern is suitable for the outlines drawn for pookolam for Onam