Sindoor

Sindoor (in Hindi: सिन्दूर, Urdu: سندور‎) or sindooram (in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya, or Bengali: সিঁদুর and Gujarati: સિંદૂર) is a traditional vermilion red or orange-red colored cosmetic powder from India, usually worn by married women along the parting of their hair. Use of sindoor denotes that a woman is married in Hindu communities, and ceasing to wear it usually implies widowhood.

The main component of traditional sindooram is usually turmeric. Commercial sindoor contains synthetic dyes and chemicals some of which not manufactured to proper standards may contain mercury and lead.

Sindoor is traditionally applied at the beginning or completely along the parting-line of a woman’s hair (also called maang in Hindi) or as a dot on the forehead ("bindi" in Hindi) or bottu in Telugu. Sindoor is the mark of a married woman in Hinduism. Single women wear the dot in different colors but do not apply sindoor in their parting of the hairline. Widows do not wear sindoor, signifying that their husband is no longer alive.

The sindoor is first applied to the woman by her husband on the day of her wedding; this is called the Sindoor Daanam ceremony. After this, she applies it herself every day.

A similar coloring ritual is known as pasupu kumkuma, named after another name for sindoor, kumkuma.

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