An Indian proverb says "A woman's beauty is multiplied 1,000 times when she wears a bindi". For many Indian women, getting dressed for a special occasion is incomplete without the bindi. When a woman grooms herself in a lavish Indian way, she gives special importance to decorating her forehead with a bindi. However, modern day bindi stickers have made it easy and bindi is used more for decoration today.
For generations, bindi has been the most visually attractive of all forms of body decoration. In fact, in the 16 decorations for personal grooming (solah-shrungār), bindi is the first shrungaar and has a strong religious implication.
But first - what does the word ‘bindi’ mean? Like the various aspects of authentic Indian culture, the bindi carries with it a wealth of meaning. Bindi is derived from the sanskrut word ‘bindu’, which means dot. Bindi is also known as 'sindoor', 'tilaka', ‘tilak’, 'tilakam' 'tika' or 'pottu'. But kumkum and sindoor are not synonymous as unmarried women use kumkum but not sindoor. The ancient name for bindi is tilaka and teeka or tikka is its distorted form.
In ancient times, small decorative leaves were used (which were made by cutting them into different shapes) and then pasted upon the forehead. The decorative leaves (patra) were also known by various names --'Patralekhā', Patramanjari', 'Patrachhedya' or 'Patrabhanga'.
Authentic kumkum is of special significance and an essential item in all religious rituals, hence auspicious. The turmeric is dried and powdered with a lime/lemon to give the rich red colored kumkum. Every deity and every altar in Sanāthana dharma has red kumkum. It is red in colour as red is a known colour of power.
Is the practice of bindi really ancient? A cursory look at the ancient paintings, murals from the antiquated Ajantā or Ellora caves, Rājasthani paintings or even sculptures from the ancient temples of India, shows that the forehead of the Indian women is always found decorated with ornaments and also bindi. Cave 16 at the Ajanta caves has a mural where a princess and her lady-attendant are with a tray both wearing the bindi. Female figurines excavated in Baluchistan seem to imply application of sindoor to the partition of women's hair in Harappā culture.
Personal decoration practices also go back to the times of Rāmāyana, the Māhābhārata and the Vedic period and till today they haven’t changed because it still looks “cool”. In the Māhābhārata, the Pāndava queen Draupadi wiped her 'kumkum' off the forehead in anguish at Hastināpur.
The practice of using 'kumkum' on foreheads is also mentioned in Vedic texts, many ancient texts (Purānas), the Lalitha Sahasranāma and Ādi Shankara’s Soundarya Lahiri. In the famous eight verses (astakam) on the symbol of Lord Shiva called the ‘Lingashtakam’ the composer says “Kumkuma chandana lepitha lingam..” meaning “I bow before that symbol (lingam), which represents the eternal Lord Shiva, adorned by sandal paste and kumkum”. Tilaka has been mentioned in Sanskrit plays of Mahākavi Kālidasa and other works like Panchatantra. Sant Tulsidās mentions it in his Rāmcharitmānas at the time of the marriage between Lord Ram and Sitā.
Kumkum is also showered as an offering (kumkuma archana) during the abhisheka of a deity. In the marriage ceremony, the bridegroom till today makes a 'tilaka' mark on the bride's forehead as a sign of wedlock. It is called the "Sindoor Dana" ceremony and married women adorn the sindoor thereafter. Along with Indian traditions and rituals, the personal attire and grooming (alankaar, shrungaar) also finds a permanent place in Indian lifestyle.