Wearing A Bindi: Beautiful And Empowered at The Same Time

By Sumit Paul New Age Islam

07 March 2026

'A lovely spot, colour red

 On her fair forehead

 It enhances her face

 And shall never fade'

-Anon

Whoever wrote the aforementioned quatrain, must have been a real connoisseur of complete feminine beauty and mind you, feminine beauty comes to a T with a bindi! A beautiful face becomes all the more pretty with a bindi. Bindi is a very subcontinental practice. In other words, it's an oriental practice that has been in vogue for centuries. All the old texts of oriental aesthetics by Mammat, Charudatt, Amru, Bharavi, sage Bharthari etc. eulogised the use of bindi and called it 'a woman's point of energy.' A person's forehead is called 'lalaat' or 'bhaal' in Sanskrit.

This part of the body is considered to be a human being's 'dormant positive zone' (Sushupt Sakaratmak Shobhit). The mythological legend has it that Lord Shiva had his 'hidden third eye' on it. There's a passage in Matsya Puran (one of the 18 Puranas), when Parvati asks her husband Shiv that you've this third eye. It implies that all men have a remnant of it. But women have nothing. They should also have something that must assert their presence ostensibly. Shiv then told Parvati that there was no difference between men and women. Since you insist on having an external expression of energy and feminine piety, henceforth I advise women to wear a bindi (Matsya Puran, Sarg: Chapter 4, shlok 111).

The ancient Indian culture believed that women, especially married women wearing bindi, would never lose their husbands and no man could cast an evil / amorous spell on them. Bindi, the earliest symbol of women's empowerment given by god himself, later became a lucky mascot or charm for them and with the passage of time it assumed the status of a stylish fashion statement. In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism the bindi is associated with the ajna chakra, and Bindu is known as the third eye chakra. Bindu is the point or dot around which the mandala is created, representing the universe.

It's worthwhile to mention that bindi (came from 'bindu' or dot) took different shapes and is now purely a fashion / cosmetic accessory to enhance a girl or woman's facial features. In 2012, when I was searching for the history of mangalsutra at Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Poona, I stumbled upon Abhisudan Apte's treatise on the origin of bindi written in 1810. He gave six reasons why women, esp. Hindu women, of ancient India resorted to wearing a bindi:

·         As an antidote to the curses heaped upon them by their quarrelsome mother-in-laws!

·         It relieved them of the pain and tension on 'those days' every month.

·         If an unmarried girl wears a bindi, she'd certainly find a nice and considerate husband

·         Bindi helps a married woman stay sadhva (antonym of a Vidhva or widow)

·         The face becomes more glowing with the use of a bindi.

·         A married woman wearing bindi gives birth to a son.

Note: The first reason is very practical because many brides still have to undergo mental torture while dealing with their formidable mother-in-laws and their indefatigable badmouthing.   

Though with the passage of time, many reasons have lost their significance and are (outright) prejudiced as well, the primary reason for putting a bindi on the forehead as an enhancement of feminine beauty, has survived the onslaught of time and traditions. Lastly, from the aesthetic point of view, one Urdu poet from Dakkhan said, " Sooni peshani lage na bhali / Yoon dikhe jyoon murjhayee kali " (A blank forehead doesn't look good / It appears like a withered bud). So, adorn it with a dot. While wearing a bindi may be an 'un islamic' practice, many Muslim women in the subcontinent embellish their foreheads with a dot and there's nothing wrong with that. Who doesn't want to look beautiful and empowered at the same time?

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URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/wearing-bindi-beutiful-eempowered-same-time-/d/139161

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