Fun with Mehandi

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In the last few decades, Mehandi has evolved into a must-have product. Whether you use it to

• Condition, enrich and naturally color hair


• Decorate a bride's hands and feet with intricate patterns


• As an alternative to temporary tattoos


• Or a means to beautiful body art

it is fun to use and you can get as creative with it as you like.

Once done as block-prints using heavy wooden stencils, match sticks and tooth picks to being drawn using a cone, the art of mehandi designing has come a long way. This had also resulted in the once popular big and small dots and swastikas giving way to delicate patterns and attractive designs.

Today, there are different patterns that come under four main categories which can be mixed and matched. Arabic, Marwadi, Indian and outlines are the major and well-known categories. While Arabic designs comprises of huge flowers and leaves, Marwadi designs are thin patterns where the entire hand is filled without a single gap. The basic Indian designs comprise kalash (a vase, normally depicted as being covered with mango leaves), doli (a palanquin), peacocks, kanguras (mango seeds) etc.

Mehandi tattoos, color mehandi, glitter mehandi, zardosi mehandi, mehandi adorned with Swarovski crystals are other ways of using mehandi application to adorn your body. Faces, names, sun, scorpions, dragons, abstracts and floral designs are currently the "in" patterns for tattoos. Tattoos on neck, forearms, upper arms, waist, navel, sides of the shoulders and back are very common these days. (And for all my 'XY' gene pool friends who are reading this blog, do not despair, because even though its not completely cool for you to get intricate designs on your palm, getting and flaunting a henna tattoo is "Coolness Factor Unlimited" :) ).

Mehendi or Henna -- The burning question

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Shakespeare had once said "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

The same holds true for henna :) Henna, as it is famously known in the Middle East and now in the western part of the world (due to its ease of pronunciation) is known as Mehandi (or Mehendi) in most parts of India. (Considering the number of different languages in India, I wouldn't be surprised if there is at least half a dozen other names for Mehandi :) ).

But, whether it is called henna or mehendi or by any other name, does it really matter? The purpose of application is the same irrespective of the culture. It is, among many other things, ultimately an expression for the celebration of life, the dance of exultation and the inclusion of change (and possibly the uncertainty) in life (shall talk about this in another entry).