“I remember my grandmother telling me that when independent India was announced, women of Madras decorated entire roads in Triplicane and Mylapore with large kolams to celebrate,” says Chennai-based historian Meenakshi Devaraj. The academician pauses mid-conversation, mulling over the varied socio-political, cultural and ritualistic roles played by kolam over centuries.
The journey of kolam is an interesting one, from a humble agrarian offering in the Sangam period, to its role in ethnomathematical research and edu-games in the 21st Century.
“This practice started as a bali [offering] when we were an agrarian community. Our produce was mainly paddy, so people would put an offering of paddy at the entrance of homes and commercial spaces everyday. After some time, this turned into offerings of rice. This is mentioned in the texts of Sangam literature, dating back over 2,000 years. In my own research, I found that this ritual slowly evolved into the format of kolams by the 8th or 9th Century,” Meenakshi says.
