Beginnings

Before dawn each day, millions of Hindu women in Tamil Nadu, India, create a kōlam, a sacred ritual art form, on the thresholds of homes, temples, and businesses. It is usually made of rice flour and therefore is ephemeral. Drawing on her extensive ethnographic research, the author seeks to understand the wide range of meanings attributed to the kōlam, such as beauty; auspiciousness; the god Ganesha; the goddesses Lakshmi, Mūdevi, and Bhūdevi; the evil eye; competition; designs; mathematics; ecology; and the idea of “feeding a thousand souls.” This chapter (along with Chapters 2 and 3) lays the foundation for the book. The author describes how her research was influenced by Ivan Illich, A. K. Ramanujan, and Chandralekha. She braids together the diasporic with the home culture, integrating philosophical underpinnings of women’s knowledge systems and oral traditions.