Traditional Rangoli Designs

Design facts

Dot grid

13 to 1 dots — tapering from 13 dots across the middle down to 1

Video

3 min 3 s, uploaded 16 January 2019

Views

9,123 on YouTube as of 9 October 2026

Step by step: how to draw Traditional Rangoli Designs

1. Mark a dot grid across the middle of the field.
2. In the centre draw a four-petal flower with a small round centre.
3. From the centre flower run four short curving tendrils — up, down, left and right — each ending in a spiral curl.
4. Beyond each tendril draw a four-petal flower with a round centre, and run a tendril from it back toward the centre ending in a spiral curl that faces the first.
5. In each of the four quadrants draw a rose of four rounded petals set in two rows.
6. Give each rose two pointed leaves and a double-lined stalk on its outer side.
7. Colour the centre flower blue, the four outer flowers pink with orange centres, the roses red and the leaves green.

Related designs

• Traditional Rangoli Designs 16 Dots
• Traditional Kolam Designs with dots
• Simple Pongal Kolam Traditional Sankranthi Muggulu and 7×7 Dots Rangoli Designs

Further reading

• Venkatraman Gopalan & Brian K. VanLeeuwen, “A topological approach to creating any pulli kolam, an artform from South India”, Forma 30, 35–41 (2015). doi:10.5047/forma.2015.005