Feeding a Thousand Souls

Every day millions of Tamil women in southeast India wake up before dawn to create a new kolam, an ephemeral but highly elaborate ritual design made with rice flour, on the thresholds of homes, businesses, and temples. This thousand-year-old ritual welcomes and honors the goddesses Lakshmi and Bhudevi. The first comprehensive study of the kolam in English, Feeding a Thousand Souls is the culmination of Vijaya Nagarajan's many years of research andwriting on this exacting ritual practice.