Sindoor Saga: The One Pinch of Sanskaar Or Patriarchy?

‘Ek chutki sindoor ke keemat tum kya jaano’, well I might not but I know ‘ek chutki sindoor’ ka chemical compound. The chemical formula of sindoor is Pb3O4. Who doesn’t know that the traditional vermilion red or orange-red coloured cosmetic powder is worn by married women along the part of their hairline (maang) as a visual marker of their marital status and ceasing to wear it usually implies widowhood?

I stopped wearing it long back since it would itch. Thank god my body gave me an indication that how deadly a chemical combination I was applying! And now I hear more and more of my friends not wearing the sindoor due to allergic reactions.

The main component of traditional sindoor is usually cinnabar (Cinnabar is mercury sulfide, a toxic mineral), turmeric and lime. Some commercial sindoor products contain synthetic ingredients, some of which are not manufactured to proper standards and may contain lead. In this formulation except for turmeric, all of them are deadly. And all Hindu married women are made to apply this each day of our lives.

Sindoor Saga

I looked for the formulation part of it when I saw an ‘eye roll’ video by a woman on Instagram where she claimed that sindoor has a bevvy of benefits. She says that the mercury in the sindoor helps in cooling and relaxing the body to even trigger sexual drive. The post has garnered over 3k likes and tons of reactions. While many took the route of hilarity like “Too much science” to express their opinion regarding the claim, others simply took the help of memes to convey their horror about the benefits of sindoor. Many pointed out that mercury as an element is extremely harmful to the human body. Some even explained how wearing sindoor is nothing but an age-old practice based on misogyny and prescribed by the patriarchal society.

Suggested Reading:

Sindoor Triggers Sexual Drive, Woman Says In A Viral Video

This importance of sindoor was again shown in one Bengali daily soap (it is hilarious nevertheless) called Aay Tobe Sohochori on Star Jalsa. The viral video doing rounds on the internet shows a wedding being conducted as per Bengali rituals, where the bride, Debina (Kuyasha Biswas), and the groom, Samaresh (Indrajit Chakraborty), are ready to exchange the garlands. However, suddenly, another man, Bubai (Arindya Banerjee), is seen pushing the groom from behind, and the bride ends up accidentally garlanding him! While everyone seems in utter shock, including the bride, the man snatches the garland from the groom’s hand and puts it on the bride. And if that wasn’t outlandish enough, he then goes on to smear her head with vermillion. You can watch the video here.

Well, that’s it, that’s all is needed to be married in India!

In the name of sindoor

Come to think of it, after Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor's wedding, the first time Alia stepped out, she was accused of not looking married enough. They pointed out that she was not wearing the traditional chooda or the sindoor.

Remember earlier such instances when Anushka Sharma’s sindoor-less photo was edited by adding a red mark near the parting of her hair? When Guwahati High Court deigned the refusal of a woman to wear sindoor and shakha as a refusal to accept marriage in Hindu law? Then in a most bizarre case in West Bengal, a woman’s forehead was forcibly smeared with sindoor by the hands of her dead boyfriend just because she couldn’t save him from dying by suicide?

I ask why do women have to apply sindoor as a sign of being married and no such requirement from the man even though we now know it’s made up of toxic substances.

When will we get over myths such as these that bind two people for not just this life but six more lives if you please?

Why signs like sindoor are needed to declare that a woman is taken

A married woman is ‘owned’, property of a man one will say. Her sindoor, red bangles, and mangalsutra all indicate this status. Also, ask any married women if they will agree that when they have applied sindoor and go outdoors, they don’t face any eve-teasing or harassment because it shows they are married single women get harassed all the time.

But what about the man, doesn’t he need to show that he’s taken too? As for eve-teasing and harassment, married women, unmarried women, girls, and under-age girls all are vulnerable, we all know that.

Tradition needs to be carried on

Have you ever wondered why exactly the sindoor, oh so pious causes skin infections? Traditionally, sindoor, apparently known as kumkuma was mostly made of turmeric and was not red. The red sindoor as we know it is mostly vermillion, a derivative of cinnabar which is a naturally occurring form of mercury sulfide. Sometimes, red lead is also added. Heavy metals such as these are known carcinogens. But does our society care? I don’t think so, a woman looking married with sindoor on her parting is more important than her health.

And these days if you can afford it, you can buy sindoor in all forms of ‘herbal’ and ‘natural’. But sindoor a woman must apply, says society! And women will obediently follow the rules.

The views are the author's own.