Kolam inspired by Raja Ravi Varma's paintings

Mangalam Srinivasan has been making kolams at home since she was a child. The 51-year-old homemaker is happiest in the month of Margazhi , when she makes a new kolam every single day. Though she began making kolams using traditional designs, she is inspired by pictures seen on the Internet, and often works for more than eight hours to turn them into kolams. “Then one fine day somebody suggested that she should try and replicate artist Raja Ravi Varma’s masterpieces. She was game for it and ended up creating a five-footlong kolam with it, that adorns her home in Srirangam. This is one of the many intricate designs that she has created over the years,” says Bhargavi, one of the daughters of Mangalam Srinivasan, who has created the Facebook page that showcases all her kolam designs along with her sister Aishwarya Srinivasan. 

Mangalam always had an interest in art and she got an opportunity to further her skills when she was selected among many artists for a year-long government certificate course in Tanjore painting by the Tamil Nadu government. She used to share her daily class work with her daughters and they realised how much she loved doing them. The homemaker also undertakes orders for Thanjavur paintings on a variety of subjects. But her interest lies in creating elaborate kolams. One day, about three years ago the daughters decided to use the social media platform to get Mangalam recognition for her work. Their Facebook page has become so popular, says Bhargavi, that they were even recognised by some fans at an airport in the US. 

“As a young girl, she used to be fascinated by my grandmother’s kolams. And every day, she along with her younger sisters, would practise in front of the house by di viding the patterns into sets of two or four lines. But now it is only my mother, who can use the methods taught by my grandmother, and follows it to make elaborate kolam designs,” says Bhargavi. 

“Her kolams range in size from a few inches to 11 feet (a kolam of Lord Shiva) and the themes range from gods and goddesses to even a replica of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa (which adorned Mangalam’s house on the morning of December 6, the day after Jayalalithaa’s death). She uses rice flour and rangoli powder and takes anywhere between an hour to even 12 hours to complete the kolams depending on the details in the design,” says Bhargavi. 

Mangalam’s husband SV Srinivasan, General Manager, at BHEL, films the kolams as they are being drawn and makes them available on YouTube as mini tutorials. “Of late, the number of views on YouTube have also been steadily increasing, especially since word has started spreading on social media,” informs Bhargavi. But Mangalam is oblivious to her stardom and just does not like being disturbed when she is concentrating on creating a kolam. “ Margazhi is the time when she is completely devoted to God, through her kolams . She asks us catergorically before the month begins not to disturb her much. For my mother, creating kolams is a sacred art and she derives a lot of emotional strength and happiness from it,” says Bhargavi.