Bindi

Today I was reading up a bit on the bindi and tilaka, two forehead markings that characterize, but are not limited to, Hinduism.

The red dot on this lady's forehead is a bindi, a decoration worn in South and Southeast Asia.

I got onto this topic when reading about Indian widows celebrating Holi, the festival of colors. The topic matter is both saddening and horrifying (as apparently in some places widows are cast out and shunned after the deaths of their husbands), but I found myself intrigued by the markings on their foreheads. I knew about the bindi, of course, but the long, silver or gold markings surprised me. (To see the photos, click on the link - both the text and photos are worth a few minutes!)

Looking into it a bit, I found that the markings must be what is called tilaka, and presumably they only applied the color for the festival, though it's also possible that they wear it on a daily basis. The different styles of tilaka (or sect-markings) are quite neat, and though I didn't recognize any of the markings below on the photos, here are an assortment of tilaka styles as found on wikipedia:

While I could not quite figure out the origin or meaning behind the tilaka, the placement of both it and the bindi on the forehead is due to the sixth chakra, ajna, being positioned there. As such, the bindi represents the third eye.

Interesting, no? If anyone knows more about this, I'd love to hear about it! Comments are welcome.