Sindoor

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Sindoor or Sindooram is a traditional red or orange-red cosmetic powder from the Indian sub-continent, usually worn by married women along the length of their hair. In Hindu society the use of sindoor shows a married woman and stop wearing usually means widow.

The main components of traditional sindooram are usually cinnabar, turmeric and lime. Some commercial sindoor products contain synthetic ingredients, some of which are not produced with the proper standards and may contain mercury and lead.

Video Sindoor

Aplikasi sindoor

Sindoor is traditionally applied early or completely along the hairs of a woman (also called maang in Hindi or "Seemandarekha" in Sanskrit) or as a point in the forehead. Sindoor is a sign of a married woman in Hinduism. Single women wear dots in different colors but do not apply sindoor at their farewells from the hairline. Widows do not use sindoor, indicating that their husbands are no longer alive.

Sindoor was first applied to women by her husband on her wedding day; this is called Sindoor Daanam ceremony. After this, he applied it himself every day.

Similar staining rituals are known as kumkuma pasupu, named after another name for sindoor, kumkuma.

Wiping sindoor is very important for a widow. There are many rituals associated with this practice. The most common is when the mother-in-law or sister-in-law wipes sindoor when a woman becomes a widow. The widow will break the bracelet and remove the bottu as well, and many will also remove their nose rings and toe rings. The parting of hair is a symbol of the red blood stream full of life. When the sindoor is removed then the river becomes barren, dry and empty. This custom is prevalent in rural areas and is followed by all castes and social ranks.

Red Sindoor is very important for married women because she is colorful. When she became a widow she adopted a plain white dress and wiped out all the colors from her face including a bright red sindoor.

The methods and styles of applying sindoor vary from personal choice to regional custom. Many newlyweds will fill the entire hairline with sindoor, while other married women may only use red dots at the ends of hair and forehead lines. More recently, the triangular shape on the forehead is pointed towards the nose, with diamond bindi for fashion, being worn by younger women.

Maps Sindoor

Hinduism

The female sculptures dug up in Mehrgarh, Baluchistan seem to imply the application of sindoor to the partition of women's hair in Harappa culture. According to legend, Radha's consort Lord Krishna transformed the kumkum into a design like fire on his forehead. In the famous Mahabharata epic, Draupadi Pandawa wife wipes her sindoor with disgust and despair at the events in Hastinapura. The use of sindoor is often mentioned in Lalitha Sahasranama's and Soundarya Lahari purana.

Adi Shankaracharya wrote on Soundarya Lahari :

Jain women apply sindoor, mostly in cities. The Jain nuns are forbidden to apply this to their hairline or forehead. The sindoor display is considered very important to indicate the marital status of the groom, whereas in some local cultures, sindooram is applied to the part of their hair by unmarried women.

The application of sindoor is basically a Hindu tradition. In the 19th century, Sufi leader Sharafuddin Maneri encouraged Muslim women to apply sindoor in Bangladesh. This is highly condemned by the reformist movement.

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Concerns about composition and poisoning

Modern Sindoor mainly uses vermilion, orange-red pigment. Vermilion is a purified and powder-shaped form of cinnabar, which is the main form in which mercury sulphides occur naturally. Like other mercury compounds, sindoor is toxic and should be handled with care. Occasionally, red lead (lead tetroxide, also known as minium) is added to the sindoor. Red lead is a known toxin and carcinogen for laboratory animals, although the nature of its carcinogenesis in humans has not been determined. Traditional sindoor made with turmeric and alum or lime, or from other herbal ingredients. Unlike red lead and vermilion, it is not toxic. In early 2008, alleged high lead content caused the US Food and Drug Administration to withdraw the collection of sindoor from some manufacturers.

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In popular culture

There are many Indian films and dramas involving sindoor, with their themes revolving around the meaning of rituals. These include Sindoor (1947), Sindooram (1976), Sindhuram Rakta (1985), Sindoor (1987), and Sindoor Tere Naam Ka (series, 2005-2007).

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See also

• Bindi
• Tilaka
• Vermilion
• Mangala Sutra

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References

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External links

• Media related to Sindoor on Wikimedia Commons

Source of the article : Wikipedia