A traditional Indian bride will stay incomplete until and unless her hands are smeared with mehendi. The intricate designs of mehendi on hands and legs are a must. In ancient times, it was more of a homely affair where the women of the family used to apply mehendi on each others’ palms and legs. Now it has acquired a professional strapping with a lot mehendi artistes designing what a bride wants. So here’s a brief sketch of the various beliefs surrounding mehendi making it a pious necessity and it’s various designs.
Folklore involving Mehendi
a) There’s an age old saying that colour of mehendi depicts the amount of love a groom has for his bride. If the colour deepens in the run up to the D-day, it is believed that the groom will love the bride dearly all his life and vice versa. It also symbolises the strength in the bond. No wonder, one can see brides using various homely methods of enhancing the colour of their mehendi like applying mustard oil on it, dabbing it with a cotton soaked in a mixture of lemon juice and sugar at regular intervals, etc.
b) The mehendi artiste writes the name of the groom in a very concealing manner on the palm of the bride. After the marriage ceremony, the groom is asked to locate his name on his wife’s palm. If he fails, it is believed the wife will have a command over this marriage for ever and alternately, if the groom does manages to locate his name, he gets an upperhand in the relationship.
Mehendi designs
Nowadays, mehendi is segregated in two distinct types: Indian and Arabic.
Indian Mehendi designs
Indian Mehendi designs
The Indian mehendi designs include the obvious mix of flowers, petals, peacock, lotus and others. Each of these designs has a lore attached to it. For example, the design of peacock on the palm reflects the vibrancy of the life stretched ahead for the bride. Since peacock is a bird with a lot of colour in its feathers, the design is generally merged with a few colors to give it an effervescent feel.
Sometimes an elephant with a raised trunk is also drawn as a part of mehendi illustrations as it symbolizes good luck. Similarly, flowers depict exuberance; petals depict lushness while lotus is pure and adds sanctity to the bond of holy matrimony.
Arabic Mehendi Designs
Arabic mehendi designs are the most recent and trendy designs in the fore now. They are generally patterns that adorn a side of the palm and feet. They are the preferred ones now because they take less time to take shape and get dry.
