Brahmins and Tattoos

[jiri]

Bk Sudesh Didi has a tattoo design on the back of her hand. I asked her what it was and she told me it was from childhood; where a local tradition was to mark the child at a certain age with a tattoo.

Are there any other Brahmins with interesting tattoo's?

Do tattoos on Brahmins have any deeper meaning? Are they a part of sadhna (spiritual effort) or a mark of penance/self abuse or of ego?

[bro neo]

:lol: Do you really want to know?

[earl]

Not many Brahmins have tattoos.

One PBK kumar has a tattoo of a Ram in remembrance of Ram.

Another BK kumar has a picture of lusty vamperella on his leg.

The body tattoos are nothing special, to notice them is to get attracted to the body not the soul.

[arjun]

Dear jiri,

Om Shanti. Normally BKs/PBKs do not get their bodies tattooed after entering the path of knowledge, but many of them have such tattoos from the days of Bhakti.

Tattoos are very common among the villagers/rural population of India. The most common colour used for tattoos is green. Generally, the villagers get the names of their spouse tattooed on their hands to express their love. In some parts of India widows also get 'bindi' (a dot) tattooed in the middle of the forehead (between the two eyebrows) since they cannot apply the red bindi symbolic of a married woman. Another common word to be tattooed is the Sanskrit alphabet 'Om' for religious/spiritual purpose (most probably to remind themselves of God). The above-mentioned green tattoos were common among the urban population also in the past, but now a days urban Indians do not like to have such traditional tattoos. Instead, some youth get multi-coloured tattoos with modern designs at the beauty parlours.

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun

[sparkal]

I feel any worthwhile spiritual path will leave it to the individual to decide.

[button slammer]

Do tattoos on Brahmins have any deeper meaning? Are they a part of sadhna (spiritual effort) or a mark of penance/self abuse or of ego?

From a few documentaries I've seen tattoos were originally done in connection with a rite of passage/initiation and were extremly hard won. They could be seen as status symbols, perhaps just labels/titles. I guess they are as significant as you want them to be. The use of titles here on the forum is a subtle form of a tattoo. I see tattoos as an external form of inner sanskars/archetypes.

[paulkershaw]

IMO Tattoos are just so darn s*xy ... and, done well, are beautiful works of art, often detailing areas of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beliefs and inter-alia ones deep needs too.

In my massage practice, I've often come across people emablazoned with the most incredible designs and as I begin to work with them, it becomes apparent that the tattoo is highlighting the area of need.

This may be asking the world for freedom and beauty for example: