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| Generally, alpana is painted with rice paste mixed with water. A quantity of rice (aatap chaaul) is kept immersed for an hour or two in water and then ground into a paste. It is next mixed with more water in a small cup. Here, Purna Shashi Saha of Kishoreganj holds a little piece of cloth with the tip of her first four fingers and dips it in the mixture of rice paste already prepared; the piece of cloth soaks a little of this mixture. She then draws the different designs of the alpana with the middle finger of her right hand which slightly protrudes beyond the other fingers holding the piece of cloth and which is fed with the mixture from the cloth. The design is never traced on the ground before the mixture is applied. |