Combining personal narrative, analytic insight, and poetics, in this chapter the author explores the parallels between the popular ninth century Tamil saint Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of the kōlam in Tamil Nadu. The links between Āṇṭāḷ, her devotion to Vishnu, and the kōlam present a fragmented landscape of oral and written narrative, folk wisdom, and ideology. The author finds four similar themes between the story of Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of making the kōlam: sacred time, waking up, forgiveness, and generosity. Āṇṭāḷ maintains a lively presence in the kōlam ritual even today. The author traces the possible origins of the kōlam in medieval Tamil texts.