Aparita Bhandari

Over the years, I have visited my paternal and maternal families in Kumaon. We typically travelled into the cool mountains during the summer vacation, and made the customary rounds of the temples, where the aipans’ familiar motifs made me feel at home. The steps leading to the main shrine were always decorated with a design known as the vasudhara. Also the name of a spectacular waterfall in Kumaon, vasudhara refers to pouring ghee (clarified butter) streaks in groups of seven during several Hindu religious ceremonies. Vasudhara is also the name of the goddess who is the equivalent of Lakshmi in Nepalese Buddhist tradition.

To create the vasudhara design, the steps’ risers are painted with geru, and then vertical lines of biswar are dripped in groups of seven. Despite these vivid memories of Kumaoni temples, it wasn’t until recently that I fully understood the aipans’ religious significance. A diplomat’s daughter, I’ve grown up across the world. The aipans on our doorways — from Australia to Cambodia — were first and foremost a reminder of my family’s cultural roots. As a teenager in Australia and India, I loved watching my mother make them.

While my mother sat on her haunches, spreading geru on the doorway, my job was to grind the soaked rice into a smooth paste. When my mother drew designs with biswar on

top of the geru, some of the geru streaked into the rice, but it just added to their charm. — Beliefnet.com