"Lakshmi and Moodevi were sisters... they had a fight one day over who was more beautiful. They argued and argued over this and finally decided to pick an arbiter to end their quarrel. They went to the three gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva... They said, 'When Lakshmi walks towards you, she is more beautiful. Her front half is lovely. When Moodevi walks away from you, she is more beautiful. Her back is lovely.' Moodevi is the goddess of sleep, restfulness, laziness, and even poverty and scarcity. So she does look more beautiful when she walks away from you. Lakshmi is the goddess of wakefulness, abundance and wealth. So when you wake up in the morning, what the kolam does is to banish Moodevi and invite Lakshmi in. This story is not meant to insult Moodevi; because you need Moodevi too. In the evening it is very painful and difficult for the body if it cannot rest. It is just to say that there are appropriate times to rest and to wake up."
Old woman Thanjavur, quoted by Vijaya Nagarajan, Hosting the Divine,
The Kolam in Tamil Nadu, p.194
