Sindoor

Sindooram (Vermilion)

Sindooram (in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya, or Sindoor in Hindustani: सिन्दूर, سندور, Bengali: সিঁদুর and Gujarati: સિંદૂર) is a traditional red or orange-red colored cosmetic powder from India, usually worn by married women along the parting of their hair. Use of sindooram denotes that a woman is married in many Hindu communities, and ceasing to wear it usually implies widowhood. The main component of modern sindooram is usually vermilion.. Traditionally, Sindooram is made from Bixa orellana pods, but commercial sindooram contain synthetic dyes and chemicals like Vermilion containing Mercury and Lead.

Application of sindooram or vermilion

Sindooram is traditionally applied at the beginning or completely along the parting-line of a woman’s hair (also called maang in Hindi) or as a dot on the forehead ("bindi" in Hindi) or bottu in Telugu. Sindooram is the mark of a married woman in Hinduism. Single women wear the dot in different colors but do not apply sindooram in their parting of the hairline. Widows do not wear sindooram, signifying that their husband is no longer alive.

The sindooram is first applied to the woman by her husband on the day of her wedding; this is called the Sindooram Daanam ceremony. After this, she applies it herself every day.

A similar coloring ritual is known as pasupu kumkuma, named after another name for sindooram, kumkuma.

The wiping off of the sindooram is very significant for a widow. There are many rituals associated with this practice. The most common is when a mother-in-law or older sister-in-law wipes off the sindooram when a woman becomes a widow. The widow will break her bangles and remove her bottu as well, and many will also remove their nose ring and toe rings. The parting of hair is symbolic of a river of red blood full of life. When the sindooram 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.

The red sindooram is significant for the married woman as she is full of colour. When she becomes a widow she adopts plain white dress and removes all colour from her face including the bright red sindooram.

Methods and styles of applying the sindooram vary from personal choice to regional customs. Many new brides will fill the whole hair line with sindooram, while other married women may just apply a red spot at the end of the hair line and forehead. Recently, a triangle shape on the forehead pointing towards the nose, with a diamond bindi for fashion, is being worn by younger women.

Hinduism

Female figurines excavated at Mehrgarh, Baluchistan seem to imply application of sindooram to the partition of women's hair in Harappa culture. According to the Legends, Radha the consort of Lord Krishna turned the kumkum into a flame-like design on her forehead. In the famous epic Mahabharata, Draupadi the wife of the Pandavas wipes off her sindooram in disgust and despair at the happenings in Hastinapura. Use of sindooram is frequently mentioned in the puranas Lalitha Sahasranama and Soundarya Lahari.

Jain women apply the sindooram, mostly in the cities. Jain nuns are forbidden to apply this to their hair line or foreheads. The display of the sindooram is considered very important to indicate the married status of the groom, whereas in several local cultures, sindooram is applied on their hair partings by unmarried women.

Adi Shankaracharya writes in Soundarya Lahari:

Tanothu kshemam nas tava vadhana-saundarya lahari.
Parivaha-sthrotah-saraniriva seemantha-saranih.
Vahanti sinduram prabala-kabari-bhara-thimira-.
Dvisham brindair bandi-krtham iva navin'arka kiranam.

The ritual of applying the sindoor as part of a Hindu Indian wedding

(Oh mother, let the line parting thine hairs,
which looks like a channel,
through which the rushing waves of your beauty ebbs,
and which on both sides imprisons,
your Vermillion, which is like a rising sun,
by using your hair which is dark like
the platoon of soldiers of the enemy,
protect us and give us peace.)

Application of sindoor is essentially a Hindu tradition. In the 19th century, Sufi leader Sharafuddin Maneri encouraged Muslim women to apply sindoor in Bangladesh. This was severely condemned by reformist movements.

In popular culture

Shop selling sindoor (vermilion) in Pushkar, Rajasthan

There are many Indian movies and dramas involving sindoor, including Sindoor Tere Naam Ka and Sindoor (1987), with their themes revolving around the ritual's significance Sindooram (1997) Telugu movie or Rakta Sindhuram (1985).

Composition and toxicity concerns

Modern sindoor mainly uses vermilion, an orange-red pigment. Vermilion is the purified and powdered form of cinnabar, which is the chief form in which mercury sulfide naturally occurs. As with other compounds of mercury, sindoor is toxic and must be handled carefully. Sometimes, red lead (lead tetroxide, also known as minium) is added to sindoor. Red lead is toxic and a known carcinogen for laboratory animals, though its carcinogenicity to humans has not been established. Traditional sindoor was made with turmeric and alum or lime, or from other herbal ingredients. Unlike red lead and vermilion, these are not poisonous. In early 2008, allegations of high lead content led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recall batches of sindoor from several manufacturers.

See also

• Bindi
• Tilaka

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons