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Re: Red Mark on Forehead
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To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: Red Mark on Forehead
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From: nnyxsi@ny.ubs.com (Kunal Singh)
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Date: 03 Jun 1996 20:15:41 GMT
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In-Reply-To: afedel@aol.com's message of Fri, 31 May 1996 05:44:10 GMT
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: Union Bank of Switzerland, New York site
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References: <ghenDs999M.1x6@netcom.com>
In article <ghenDs999M.1x6@netcom.com> afedel@aol.com (AFedel) writes:
I'd like to post what I hope is not an insensitive question: can someone
tell me what the red dots on some women's foreheads mean? I've been told
alternately that they have to do with devotion to Shiva, and that they are
a caste mark. Are one or both of these true? Are there some additoinal
cultural things that don't "offically" go with the mark but everyone
understands? Hope I'm not being offensive, but my 5 year old daughter
asked me and I don't want to guess.
As far as I know the bindis on women's forehead has not much to do
with either religion nor caste. It is largely a feature of Indian
cosmetics.
In religion, you will see the concept of "tilak" or someone placing a
red mark on either the foreheads of people or even figures of deities.
That action is generally considered to bestow honor upon the recipient.
During Hindu rituals, you see devotees marking the figure of deity or
some stone by using a red powder as an act of honoring the deity. In
some parts of India, black marks or even ashes are used instead of red
powder.
