In India, it's tradition for women to wear a bindi. A bindi is a mark, generally circular, made on the center of the forhead.
The dot is commonly placed slightly above the junction of the eye brows as this area represents the seat of concealed wisdom. Wearing a bindi on that area is said to strengthen concentration and retain energy. Also, this area is considered to be the seat of the third eye. The third eye as per Indian spiritual texts is the inner or invisible eye which can give you perception beyond ordinary sight. It is thought to be the gate to higher consciousness. Therefore people who meditate generally fix their gaze at this spot.
Generally the mark is made in red as it represents the colour of love, honour and prosperity.
In ancient times, the bindi represented a sign of worshipping ones own intellect therefore it was worn by both men and women.
A strong intellect was thought to help one to make noble decisions in life, to be able to stand up to challenges in life with courage, and to recognise and welcome good thoughts in life.
In some parts of india a red dot on the forehead is made to signify the married status of the woman and is a sign of respect for the institution of marriage.
Over the years , the bindi might have lost its religious importance but it is worn very frequently with the Indian traditional dresses such as the Sari to cosmetically enhance the look.
Good information!
ReplyDeleteI alway wondered what it meant and now not only do I have an explanation but much more insight into the culture! Thanks for enlightening me. Great post. Stephen
ReplyDeleteAs familiar as I am with the Bindi I did not really know it's origins and why it is worn. How interesting that it is woman who wear it and not men. I say this because it seems that the "third eye" is recognizing the intelligence of women as exceeding that of man. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have Indian friends before but I didn't asked them about this bindi thing. Just now that I know of. Well, they shared about the religious thing in India; Muslims, Christian and Hindi.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this information. I have seen this red dot on Indian women but never knew what it meant culturally. I sometimes see a red jewel stuck in their forehead. I guess that it a status symbol too? - Fred
ReplyDeleteI've had some Indian colleagues before and they told about the meaning of the mark as well. They have it together with the sari.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm am informed. I really didn't entertain the idea why Indians put something like that in their forehead. This is a pretty cool information.
ReplyDeleteBeing an indian I know the importance of Bindi, but i do not know that third eye concept is also attached with this
ReplyDeleteI never knew a bindi is said to strengthen concentration and retain energy! But now it make sense. We don't have to be Indian to do so right? Try it one day!
ReplyDeleteThis is new knowledge for me regarding the Indian culture. Now I know what the bindi means.
ReplyDeleteLearned so much from this post! I've always wondered what the mark was and now I do! Haha! :D
ReplyDeleteall along i was told red bindi means the lady is married while single ladies use black (in my multi-racial country where Indian is one of the 4 main races). never knew there is so much religious history behind bindi.
ReplyDeleteI thought only the married women in India wear bindi. It is great that this red dot is a symbol of the third eye and inner wisdom, I did not know that.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why they put a bindi! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the introduction to Indian culture. I knew that women use bindi in India but I didn't know the significance and meaning of it.
ReplyDeleteI've always been wondering about what that meant. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOh! Now I know what it means!~
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the bindi had so much meaning behind it. I guess this was the reason why a lot of people were annoyed with Selens Gomez's music video when she had a red bindi.
ReplyDeleteI knew that the red dot (bindi) signifies that the person is married. Never thought it has other definitions/explanations.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There is now a lot of respect to cultural practices such as wearing bindi probably because of commercialism?