preview

Creative Expression in Hunduism Essay

Decent Essays

Creative expression in Hinduism is often incorporated through rituals and daily tasks. Hindu women have the opportunity to express themselves creatively through the daily creation of kolams, also known as Rangoli. Kolams are intricate drawings that serve as a proclamation to the world of various meanings, and also a unique form of communication, dependent on their design. These kolams can express many meanings such as announcing that their home is welcome to others, announce special events, worship deities, and celebrate festivals.
Every morning, the woman of the household designs a new kolam pattern outside the front of their door. The women first “sweep their thresholds, sprinkle them with a solution of cow dung and water and cover the …show more content…

“The presence or absence of the kolam on the front stoop is equivalent to announcing that a household is open or closed to the world, a cultural category that sends off a capacious sense of hospitableness or hospitality, specifically, the willingness and ability to feed stranger,” (Pintchman, 88). This can be interpreted as the idea that the family has a surplus of food and is willing to help people in the community who need it. This means if there were someone wandering the streets: a community member, visitor, or stranger, they would read this kolam as a very strong encouraging sign that they might be able to receive a bowl of hot food or other hospitality from this family.
Another way that kolams can be used is to announce special events for a household, such as births, deaths, or menstruation cycles. In some households, when a child is born, special elaborate designs may be made for the kolam of that day, to announce the child’s birth. Certain symbols and figures would be used to indicate that it was the birth of a child. In other castes and parts of India, the birth of a child may not be announced through the design of a special kolam. (Pintchman, 89) This is one of the instances that vary if it is announced by kolam or not. If there is a death in the family, usually there is an absence of a kolam. The same goes for if the woman of the house is menstruating. It can also be a way of presenting that it is the first

Get Access