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Diyas lit during various rites, rituals and pujas have votive significance. And to propitiate the deities, arti thalis are waved in front of them during worship. The art of creating attractive puja-thalis or artis is one of the more fascinating forms of ritualistic decoration like rangoli and alpana. During Navratri, Indian women, particularly the Gujaratis, prepare attractive artis when they worship Goddess Amba in her varied manifestations for nine nights. During Diwali and other festivals women vie with each other in creating ingenious designs in artis. Of late, a host of novel designs have been involved. The materials used are simple and inexpensive - grains, pulses, flowers, buds, petals, leaves, felt paper, poster paints, beads and sequins.
CHAKRESH JAIN brings you a few eye-catching ones. Why not try your hand at these...
FLORAL
Material: Petals of marigold flowers, fresh green leaves, pink lotus/or any other flower, red poster colour, white paper and an adhesive.
Method: Line the thali with a circular white paper. With the marigold petals, make a thick border around the edge of the thali. Place the pink lotus or any other flower in the centre, then arrange leaves around the flower forming a floral pattern. Place a bud vertically on the leaf and stick in place. Prepare six to eight leaves and secure them round the flower. For additional decoration you could paint the leaves in some floral pattern or paint a red dot instead of using a bud. Paint tiny red flowers in the space between leaves. Let dry.
FELT PAPER
Material: Felt paper in yellow and maroon, poster paints.
Method: Line the thali with yellow paper cut in a circle. Cut a circle from the maroon paper, fold it twice and using a pair of scissors cut out a jali pattern. Unfold the paper and paste it on the yellow background. The empty spaces could be painted with dots or with beads fixed on the yellow background.
FLOWERS AND PAINTS
Material: Cardboard piece, small-sized marigold flowers, asavapalav leaves (these leaves resemble mango leaves but are longer and thinner in texture), poster paints.
Method: Take the cardboard and cut it into a square. Line it with a white paper fixing it in place with an adhesive. In the centre paint a swastika motif in red or footprints of goddess Laxmi. Let dry. Border the square with marigold flowers sticking them in place. Empty spaces could be decorated with tiny beads or delicate floral motifs.
GRAINS AND PULSES
Material: Masur dal, rajma, green and yellow moong dal.
Method: Line a thali with white paper. Draw a pattern of a kalash with a coconut with mango leaves radiating from it - representing a goddess. Using adhesive stick orange masur dal on the kalash. On this, paint some simple design using poster colours. In place of coconut stick the rajma, and green moong dal will complete the leaves. Cover the back ground with yellow moong dal. Let dry completely. You could even draw a geometrical pattern in the thali and decorate with different grains and pulses.
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