kolams

The Kolam is one of the few embedded indigenous traditions that have contributed to western mathematical tradition.
Owing to its complexity mathematicians and computer scientists are studying it as an unusual example of expression of mathematical ideas in a cultural setting.
From pictorial visual language called array grammars in computer science to knot traditions in mathematical theory.
There are more than 20 kinds of different mathematical principles embedded in kolams. 
Elucidating fundamental mathematical principles the symmetry of kolam art requiring recurring fractals in their designs that have been repeatedly compared with mathematical models like the Sierpinski triangle a fractal of recursive equilateral triangles.
What remains a wondrous mystery is how women without formal education and no knowledge of mathematics beyond simple counting have been able to create and recreate such complex patterns for hundreds of years.