Kolams

A kolam is a design decorating the courtyards of homes in the villages of southern India. Perhaps five millenia old, this artform is described in many ancient Sanskrit texts. The designs can cover areas up to 3 meters by 3 meters. Occasionally they consist of small patterns repeated many times, but more often thay are small drawings connected in very sophisticated ways.

Prusinkiewicz and Hanan shows many of the more intricate kolams can be generated by L-systems, and many are fractal. Here are two examples, the Anklets of Krishna and the snake.

The snake has axiom = F+xF+F+xF and production rule x -> xF-F-F+xF+F+xF-F-F+x, with angle 90 degrees.

The Anklets of Krishna has axiom = -x--x and production rule x -> xFx--xFx, with angle 45 degrees.