A Kashmiri farmer picks saffron flowers from a field in Pampore, south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 06 November 2023. Pampore, also known as the Saffron town of Kashmir, is famous for its high quality saffron. It is one of few places in the world where the world's most expensive spice grows. (Photo by Farooq Khan/EPA)

A man dressed in the likeness of the Hindu deity Agni Kandakarnan performs during the Theyyam ritualistic dance festival on March 14, 2023 in Somwarpet, India. Theyyam is a colourful socioreligious dance form that is the amalgamation of ritual, vocal and instrumental music, dance, painting, and literature and its genesis can be traced to the coastal regions of the southern Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)

Indian girl, Amrita Bannerjee, gets dressed as the Goddess Durga, during Kumari Puja ritual as part of the Durga Puja festival at Shidaspur village, far north of Kolkata, India, 30 September 2025. During the Kumari Puja, devotees worship a girl aged between six and twelve, symbolizing the Kanya Kumari (virgin) form of the Goddess Durga Devi. Hindu devotees believe that Kanya is a living embodiment of the goddess Durga. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

A girl holds her newly purchased pet cat while posing for a photograph at a pet shop in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 10 November 2025. Kashmir is seeing more pet owners, especially of Persian cats. Over 6,000 cat bite cases were reported last year, accounting for nearly half of the rabies control budget. Experts urge vaccination as demand for pedigree pets continues to rise. (Photo by Farooq Khan/EPA)

Youth council member Mia Buckles plays with 18-month-old Kobe Buckles-Benson as Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the Cowessess First Nation, where a search had found 751 unmarked graves from the former Marieval Indian Residential School near Grayson, Saskatchewan, Canada on July 6, 2021. (Photo by Shannon VanRaes/Reuters)

Indian Air Force (IAF) cadets march during a graduation parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India, Saturday, June 20, 2020. A total of 123 flight cadets including 19 women officers were commissioned as flying officers on Saturday on successful completion of their training, a press release said. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Rangoli, also known as kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It is usually made during Diwali, Onam, Pongal and other Indian festivals. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. Similar practices are followed in different Indian states: in Tamil Nadu, there is Kolam in Tamil Nadu; Mandana in Rajasthan; Chaookpurna in Chhattisgarh; Alpana in West Bengal; Aripana in Bihar; Chowk pujan in Uttar Pradesh; Muggu in Andhra Pradesh and others.

An Indian nomadic shepherd from the western Rajasthan state guides his flock of sheep through an access road in Greater Noida, outskirts of New Delhi, India, Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Looking for suitable pasture lands for grazing, shepherds migrate their flocks over extensive areas in the same state or to neighboring states in India. (Photo by R.S. Iyer/AP Photo)