Rangoli at the Entrance as per Vastu: Colours, Shapes and Placement

Make the rangoli directly in front of the main door, centred on the threshold, so that anyone entering walks towards it. In Vastu the main door is the point through which people, light and प्राण (prana, life energy) enter a home, and a rangoli marks that point as cared for.

The threshold itself, the देहली (dehli, the doorstep), has long been treated with respect in Indian homes, which is why the design sits at it rather than somewhere decorative in the hall. If your door has a raised threshold, draw just outside it. If you draw inside instead, leave the arc of the door's swing clear so it does not scrape the design every time it opens.

Rangoli is a regional tradition that sits comfortably with Vastu, not a rule that Vastu requires. Almost every part of India has its own form of it, and the name, the material and the occasion change as you travel.

In a shared lobby, keep the rangoli within the width of your own door and well clear of the walkway, the lift and your neighbour's entrance. Many societies welcome rangoli at festivals, but a design that people have to step around in a narrow corridor creates more friction than welcome.

The same courtesy applies to torans and nameplates in a common corridor, which are covered in toran and main door decoration.

Choose colours that lean towards the element of your entrance direction, and use any colours you love alongside them. These are gentle emphases, not restrictions: no entrance direction is unlucky, and no colour is wrong at a festival doorway.

Symmetrical designs with closed, continuous borders are traditionally considered auspicious, because they read as complete and settled. Circles, lotuses and dot-grid patterns are the commonest forms, and they suit any direction. For more on colour by direction across the home, see colour therapy by direction.

Rice flour, flower petals, turmeric, kumkum and traditional rangoli powder are the time-honoured materials, and they are also the kindest to people, pets and drains. Kolam was traditionally drawn in rice flour partly so that ants and birds could feed on it, which makes the doorstep a small daily act of giving.

Keep a rangoli only as long as it looks fresh, usually a day or two for powder and a day for flowers, then redraw or clear it. A trampled, smudged design at the door works against the reason for making one.

Sweep powder up dry rather than washing it into the drain, compost the petals, and leave rice flour where birds can reach it. If you place diyas around the design, keep them on its outer edge, away from the door's swing and from saris and dupattas brushing past. After the festival, a small rice-flour design at the doorstep each morning keeps the habit alive with very little effort.

Consult a Vastu expert when the entrance itself is the concern: a door facing a lift or staircase, an entrance in a direction you have been told to worry about, or a lobby so dark that nothing you put there feels welcoming. A rangoli brightens an entrance; it does not change its direction or its pada. Our guide to main door Vastu for flats explains the non-structural options.

Dr. Kimaya Parikh-Ambekar of VastuKimaya checks the main door with a compass on-site across Mumbai from her Andheri East office, or works from floor plans and photographs in a distant consultation, and suggests remedies that suit flats and rented homes.