Varalakshmi Vratham or Varamahalakshmi Pooja will be celebrated on August 12 2016. This is one of the most important festivals and requires elaborate preparation and celebrations resulting in joy and mental satisfaction . This festival is called Varamahalakshmi Habba in Karnataka.
![Varalakshmi-Vratham-recipes-247a.jpg]( "cut the dough horizontally and vertically")
![Varalakshmi-Vratham-recipes-247ab.jpg]( "fry them oil or combination of ghee and oil")
![Varalakshmi-Vratham-recipes-247ac.jpg]( "boil milk with sugar and cardamom powder")
![Varalakshmi-Vratham-recipes-247ad.jpg]( "add the fried pieces and allow the milk to boil")
![Varalakshmi-Vratham-recipes-247ae.jpg]( "Naivedyam is ready for Varalakshmi Vratham")
Varalakshmi Vratham recipes ideas
For any festival or function , payasam or kheer is a must . Varalakshmi Vratham is a special festival and so a different type of recipe through a payasam is an option. This is called poori payasam or kheer.
- Take chiroti rava , if it is not available ordinary rava can be ground in a mixer.
- Add water and cover with a wet cloth for three to four hours .
- The rava becomes soft and can be kneaded like dough. Make poori shapes with the dough
- Using a knife or cutter cut the poori dough horizontally and vertically to get small pieces
- Fry them in oil and place them in a container or plate with tissue paper on top to drain oil.
- It is preferable to use oil and ghee combination for frying. Of course this is based on one's health concers.
- Meanwhile boil milk on the stove , adding sugar and cardamom as required . Saffron is optional
- Add the fried poori pieces and allow the kheer to boil for five minutes
- Fry cashew nuts in ghee and add them to the kheer.
- Varamahalakshmi Pooja Naivedyam is ready.
One of the most common and beautiful decorations we can have for Gods and Goddesses is the traditional rose garland that is made with banana stem fibre. All traditional Indian garlands have their own beauty but the rose garland is quite unique. The light pink variety called the paneer rose in Tamil Nadu is known for its beauty and fragrance. I invariably use this variety of rose only for Puja and for making garlands. The local flower vendor from whom I buy has different types of roses red, yellow , dark pink etc. but the insects hover and buzz above the paneer rose only.
How to make a traditional Indian flower garland
Many of us would have observed and noticed flower garlands being made at the entrance of our local temples. I would like to share the method of making this beautiful floral decoration idea for Varamahalakshmi Pooja . This garland we can use for decorating the Puja mantap or as a decoration for the Varalakshmi kalasam decorations.
The method is as follows
- Buy a large quantity of roses depending upon the length of garland required
- I have shared only the basics of the method and so the garland is relatively short
- Take two or three thick banana stem fibres ( called naaru in Tamil ). They serve as the support for the garland
- Take a thin fibre and tie a knot at the top as shown.
- Place one rose on the thick fibres and hold the flower by taking the thin fibre around the stalk
- Turn the thick fibre combination by ninety degrees and place the next rose and take the fibre around the rose
- Again turn the thick fibres by 90 degrees and place the third rose. Similarly turn the fibres again and place the fourth rose
- After placing the four roses one layer of the garland is formed
- Continue this to get more layers. The more the layers , more the length of the garland
- After completing all layers required using the thin fibre tie a knot on the thick fibers at the bottom. This will hold the roses together.
- We can add sampangi or samandhi ( marigold ) in between to beautify the garland further
- Form two such portions and tie them together at the bottom to get the garland
- We can add a flower decoration at the bottom of the garland also
- This is the procedure for rose garland making.
- Similarly we can make garlands with, sampangi , marigold , chrysanthemum or other flowers.
Rose garland making images - DIY
Making such traditional garlands is an important part of hobbies and crafts done in our country for quite a long time.
![kolam-for-Varalakshmi-Vratham-247a.jpg]( "place the dot pattern as shown")
![kolam-for-Varalakshmi-Vratham-247ab.jpg]( "form the star patterns inside and outside using the dots")
![kolam-for-Varalakshmi-Vratham-247ac.jpg]( "draw lines inside and outside")
![kolam-for-Varalakshmi-Vratham-247ae.jpg]( "continue filling up the gap with lines")
![kolam-for-Varalakshmi-Vratham-247ai.jpg]( "decorate with free hand pattens")
![lines-kolam-for-festival-247a.jpg]( "completed simple and easy kolam")
![Varalakshmi-Habba-rangoli-247a.jpg]( "draw the basic square pattern and the patterns outside")
![Varalakshmi-Habba-rangoli-247ab.jpg]( "decorate the kolam on all sides as shown")
![Varalmahakshmi-Habba-rangoli-247ac.jpg]( "decorate the gaps with free hand patterns")
![Varalmahakshmi-Habba-rangoli-247ad.jpg]( "completed simple and easy kolam")
Kolam plays an important part in the celebration of Varamahalakshmi Puja . It is Rangolisansdots and hence flagship theme is rangoli or kolam . Of course occasionally I digress from the main theme to share some home made recipes and naivedyam for festivals and some traditional crafts of India like the rose garland above.
The dot pattern used is 5, 4, 3 idukku pulli. Form the pattern at the centre and outside using the dots.
The other pictures should make the steps self explanatory,I hope.
kolam designs for Varalakshmi Vratham Pooja
The dot pattern used is 5, 4, 3 idukku pulli. Form the pattern at the centre and outside using the dots.
The other pictures should make the steps self explanatory,I hope.
The next kolam ( or muggu ) is a basic padi kolam. I am of the opinion that traditional padi kolam should start with a square base. I use four or five lines for a padi kolam or any lines kolam. There is a school of thought which feels that padi kolam should be with 2, 4,6 lines only ( i.e the number of lines should be even). This was a point of discussion on my YouTube channel with some subscribers through the comment form . While I use 4 or 5 lines my elder sister is very particular that five lines are used for padi kolam. In fact she called me from Nagpur over telephone and discussed my video on my YouTube channel and asked why I was using 4 lines when our family tradition is using 5 lines. Though there are no hard and fast rules in the number of lines in a traditional padi kolam ,we may have 4 or 5 , the second option is two lines only. Any other number is usually not used. Traditional lines kolam may differ from traditional padi kolam in that they need not start with a square base and so also the number of lines.
So far as the kolam designs for Varlakshmi Pooja are concerned , one more padi kolam . The images should be self explanatory I hope.
