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Subject: MEANING BEHIND VARIOUS SIGNS OR MARKS ON FACE _________________________________________________________________ * Subject: Re: Meaning Behind Various Signs or Marks on Face * From: "Ray R. Ward"* Date: 7 Dec 1995 02:28:15 GMT * Approved: srh * Article: 671 of soc.religion.hindu * Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu * Organization: Alcatel Network Systems * References: <4a2cgr$dbi@babbage.ece.uc.edu> _________________________________________________________________ Maridel Crawford-Brown <3mjc23@qlink.queensu.ca> wrote: >I would like to know the meaning behind the various signs or marks >Hindus sometimes paint on their faces. Do they wear them all the time or >only for holy reasons or special reasons? Do different castes have >different marks? I am doing a paper on Hindu art but so far can't find >this covered. Any help appreciated. The most common facial markings in Hindu culture are lines or a dot on the forehead. The dot, or bindu, originated with the red powder offered to God, frequently in the feminine aspect, the Mahadevi, and received back by the worshipper as a dot of the powder applied to their forehead, between the eyebrows, by the priest, or pujari. This holy practice has degenerated, for some women, into cosmetic dots worn as makeup or as a statement of ethnic or cultural identity. The lines still retain their original significance, to indicate the spiritual tradition of the wearer. Three vertical lines indicate a devotee of Vishnu, three horizontal lines, a devotee of Shiva. The lines representing Shiva may be straight or curved upward at the ends, rather like a smile, to indicate the crescent of the new moon. These usually are ashes of incense offered to God in the function of Destroyer and Renovator, which is personified as Shiva, meaning Benevolence. The lines representing Vishnu are frequently painted on, and may sometines be joined at the bottom. I find it charming, and significant, that the word used for devotion to God, bhakti, means in its original sense, marked by striations, stripes. This word encompasses both horizontal and vertical lines, devotees of God in the role of Sustainer (Vishnu) and in the role personified as Shiva. It also encompasses, by implication, all those who worship God, and so devote their lives, whatever their favorite or prescribed divine function or image of God. A devotee is a bhakta. Hope this helps, Ray -- Ray Ward rayward@metronet.com -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Moderator: Ajay Shah Submissions: srh@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu Administrivia: srh-request@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu Archives: http://rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu:8080/soc_hindu_home.html _________________________________________________________________ References: * Meaning Behind Various Signs or Marks on Face + From: Maridel Crawford-Brown <3mjc23@qlink.queensu.ca> _________________________________________________________________ * Prev: Re: Hindu diet: some one please explain. * Next: Re: Pictures of hindu gods on the net * Index: Mail Index * Thread: Mail Thread Index _________________________________________________________________
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