Karva Chauth henna decoration captured by 'body art shops' in Jaipur

02 November, 2012

This year, women in Jaipur are preferring to go to the body art shops that have come up in various malls and shopping complexes in the city for getting henna applied to their hands. The traditional fervour of socialization of married women of various localities and neighborhoods for mutually applying henna on the hands of one another, is disappearing.

APPLYING HENNA or mehndi on hands, feet and other body parts, as a component of India culture and dressing up by women and girls as a collective event, is dying. The art-form of henna or mehndi, earlier, varied from place to place, and from occasion to occasion.

Till a few years ago, most traditional henna patterns were often based on very simple shapes - circles, triangles and wavy lines being the most basic. These shapes were usually combined to create patterns on Karva Chauth to create a religious and spiritual spirit of the festival. Earlier, lucky lotus design and leaves chains were in vogue.

But, of late, market forces have taken over the socio-cultural aspect of Karva Chauth henna designs. The designs have been with intricate and biggish floral patterns on the hands, forearms, feet and legs. Body art shops show you an album to chose a design or customize a design of your choice and charge minimum of fifty rupees to maximum of a thousand rupees.

Body art shops use some additives and chemicals to deepen the henna colour and longevity of their designs.