this is call a "kollum"

The night before full moon some of the women painted these in one of the ashram halls. They sort of invite good luck in to the room. It is so amazing to watch. The ladies use a wet, granulated chalk to make these. The place a series of dots on the ground that correspond to the design they want and then hold the wet chalk in the fingers and sort of drizzle it around the dots and they come up with this. This is so amazing, this is soooo Indian.