The importance of colors in Indian culture!!!

Ancient Indians planned things and followed them having science as base. Thus is the concept of sindhoor which is a topic of heavy misconception so far.

We thank God for having provisioned us the colors, by celebrating Holi. We also made use of them in the form of sindhoor; sindhoor is one which means filling an empty space in Sanskrit. There was an era when people had reasons to use jewelleries (the important jewelleries we had: the ring worn by married women in India on their toes is to have a healthy heart because an extension of artery vein of the heart ends at the toe adjacent to the big toe), clothing designed in a specific way and we had reasons for having them the way they were. Sindhoor is an accessory filled in the (empty space) partition of the scalp, which when combed, it starts from forehead (from the outskirts or the finishing edge of agna chakra) till the point of Brahma randhra which is a natural hole on our skull and the center of sahasrara chakra. This beautiful concept of sindhoor had a meaning of filling that empty or visible space of scalp when combed. sindhoor that we made use of, had different colors for a reason. The misconception that we have is that it is the symbol of chastity and soumangalya. The actual reason for using this was to gain a certain supremacy or control over a pupil’s mental status. It was not only women but also men used to apply sindhoor (which people think is an entity of decorative accessory) this was applied to absorb the sunrays of a certain frequency(as clothes of white in color is worn in summer and were not allowed to wear black, as it may increase the body temperature).

Women were categorized according to their behavior and status, thus were advised to use specific colors accordingly:
women who belonged to vernacularly typical middle class and of lower castes and especially whose husbands wanted their wives to retain their chastity except but themselves, asked their wives to use the color red as it would absorb the IR or the infrared rays of the sun which would heat up the layer in between the scalp and the skull which bring about an impact in their mental status and also in their physical body temperature in such a way that their sexual urges are retained but due to their physical uncomfortableness caused due to heat they would not be interested in the love making act until they reach a state of comfortableness (when body is cooled and warm) mostly during the evening or night and was the reason for a few to retain their chastity. They had another theory which says, that when a body was under a certain temperature the urges of a women increased so were eager for the return of their husbands, home. It was believed that lust was a medium for love to boost at times and thus it made them wait for their husbands return and built expectations pertaining their love making act and when they do not get the amount of love expected they started searching for alternates as mentioned in the world famous sex manual Kamasuthra, written by Nandi, which bore information of how to, when to and with whom to make love and have them under control, bound to love.

Similarly it was not only the color red which was used but also there are reports that say that the queens (Kshatreya women) were using the powder of gold as sindhoor, which reflected the rays of sun and the lusture of them heated the scalp but never left a dark trace due to the heat, behind(that’s the reason gold is special unlike other metals because they had very high reflecting factor and would leave traces of burns) the heat was to such an extent that the heat spread to the layer below the skull too and had its impact on brain and thus in-turn on the body for which they lost 69 to78% of their sexual urges, so as not to intervene much in the busy schedule of the kings for a mean desire such as sex. They nullified their emotions and urges and made them feel the irritation in the body due to heat. Hence due to the irritation they needed more space and ventilation, they rather preferred being not touched due to the irritation. When the queens refused this act of the kings, the kings thought of a new idea of having the same as jewellery called “naiythale bottu” used as an accessory.

Widows were prescribed to smear white or black in accordance to their mental status and a few more foresighted circumstances. Widows of a certain category were asked to use white sindhoor according to their mental status(and also looks, if bad) (which people now wouldn’t wish to call it sindhoor as they consider it unlucky being a widow) because, the color white reflects the sunrays and absorbs rays of very less wavelength which made them absorb very less heat due to which the state of brain was stabilized and was pure and due to this ease or comfort, arouse to them the thoughts of lust which when could not be gained(as they weren’t pretty) pushed them into a state of depression and were always isolated, which was done in order to make them realize about self(self realization). hence these women involved in activities such as handicrafts, pooja, prayers etc this was implacable to those who couldn’t attract men, they weren’t allowed to wear jewelries to decorate themselves(thus forcefully breaking and snatching if their decorative accessories were done) and hair being a highlighting factor of beauty for women in India, was forced to shave it completely so that they don’t attract men who were desperate to have sex for whoever it is(even if they looked better and not much beautiful). But, this became a practice as time varied and was followed as practices what we call the sanskaaras, and women were forced to undergo all these without knowing the reason behind these practices.

A few more widows who were capable of attracting very high stigma of lusty men and projected desperacy for sex, were asked to smear a black paste (ash mixed with oil). scientifically the color Black absorbs more heat and almost all the wave-lengthed frequencies of sunlight, thus there was an increase in their body temperature internally and externally due to which they felt a kind of mentally uncomfortable, due to the increase in temperature and thus wanted to be lonely. As the residents of the same place didn’t want them to approach men(their husbands and many others who is still in the progress of education) to quench their thirst of lust for how much ever they were desperate, hence this technique of increasing their body heat brought an impact on their mental and physical status and comfort levels, hence they didn’t wish to have any physical contact as it would generate much more heat which would cause annoyance and frustration.

Note: It is interesting to note that that the application of sindoor by married women carries physiological significance too. This is so because Sindoor is prepared by mixing turmeric-lime and the metal mercury. Due to its intrinsic properties, mercury, besides controlling blood pressure also activates sexual drive. This also explains why Sindoor is prohibited for the widows. For best results, Sindoor should be applied right up to the pituitary gland where all our feelings are centered. Thus there were different elements used to produce sindhoor of different kind in accordance to the requirement.

There were colors of very wide range in use, but as a matter of fact we just prefer red, white and at times black and orange…, we used a wide range of colors as each of those had their own significance in bringing a change in a pupil’s mental, physical and behavioral characteristics but these being an exception for Devadasis and Rajnarthakis. The local women including the queens and the women of very high status in the society also started learning the kaama shaasthra as they wanted to have their husband’s attraction over them, this was done because the devadasis turned out to be prostitutes and tried attracting men.

These are the pictures of sindhoor green and red.