Jhoti rangoli: Lakshmi's footprints with paddy, lotus with conch shells, tree with birds

Jhoti rangoli, the chita drawn in white rice paste on red-earth floors and walls in Odisha, above all on the Thursdays of Margasira for Manabasa. The three designs are small footprints walking between paddy stalks, a white lotus with conch shells, and a tree of curling branches with parrots. Each comes as fine looping lines, as thick finger strokes, and as a full design framed by flowers and dots. A different motif can be typed in as a request.

• a Manabasa Thursday floor in Margasira
• a courtyard or wall of red earth
• a classroom lesson on Odisha folk art
• a festival doorstep at a home with a terracotta floor

Frequently asked questions

What is jhoti or chita?

Jhoti, also called chita, is a white rice paste design drawn with the fingers on a floor or wall, most often in Odisha during the Thursdays of Margasira.

Do I need a red earth floor?

The pictures show the traditional red-ochre ground. The same white paste design can be drawn on another plain floor, though it will look different.

Can I ask for a different motif?

Yes. Type the motif you want. A new motif is a request, not a promised result.

About toile

This page is a showcase and a starting point: nine samples already rendered, three readings of the pack crossed with three styles, each shown at the size and ratio it was made for. Take any of them further on the wall with a few words, or ask for all nine again under your own direction; a sign-in keeps what you make, and it is free while Toile is new. The recipe behind each sample — the subject, the style, the palette, the framing — travels with the image rather than staying private to the render: it is in the alt text of every sample and in the page's own structured data, so a search engine reads the same handles a person would.