Undoubtedly, Indian women are among the most beautiful in the world. Their exotic beauty is complemented by their makeup and especially the red dots (bindi), characteristic only of India, which they place on the forehead, between the 2 eyebrows.
Nowadays, many women, not just in India but in Europe and elsewhere, also wear bindi mainly as a decoration or part of their makeup, without giving a second thought to the symbolism, tradition and meaning of the red dot in question.
The tradition of wearing bindi is ancient. In the past it was a sign of one's membership of the Vedic culture. Translated from Sanskrit, bindi means "dot" and its function was to show the purity of thoughts and consciousness.
As such, a bindi in the past could only be placed on the forehead by a priest. He would place it only on the faces of those who attended a religious ceremony, a so-called "poojan", after which all present were thought to be cleansed.
In Hindu temples, the paint used to apply bindis was stored in a special place. It was always red since the color red symbolized the blood.
Originally, newlyweds would place a drop of their own blood on their partner's forehead, which was why wearing a bindi was initially characteristic of women, especially married women.
Later, they began making them with paint. The tradition of bindi being red only changed and Hindus started painting yellow bindis on their foreheads as a sign of mourning, plus red-brown bindis and other colors as well.
