Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

“Hair is a powerful metaphor in Hindu mythology.

Krishna has curly hair. Balarama has straight silky hair. Shiva has thick matted hair. The Goddesses – Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga – have loose unbound hair. 

Hair has long been used in India to convey a message.

Unbound unruly hair represents wild nature.

Well oiled and combed hair represents culture.

That is why the wild Kali’s hair is unbound while the domestic Gauri’s hair is well bound and in her temples devotees make offerings of gajra, a string of flowers to tie up the hair.

In the Mahabharata, Draupadi’s unbound hair represents her fury.

In the Ramayana, the last jewel of Sita is the hairpin that she gives Hanuman to convey to Ram that her honor, and his reputation, stand in a precarious position.  

Shiva’s dreadlocks represent the potent power of his mind that enables him to catch and bind the unruly and wild river-goddess Ganga.

Shaving the head is associated with asceticism.

Buddhist monks shaved their heads.

Jain monks plucked their hair from the roots; to survive the pain is to convey that one is willing to suffer the challenges offered by monasticism.

Brahmins shaved their head but left a tuft in the end, an indicator that they were not monks but very much part of worldly life. This Brahmin tuft is tied up to show control; Chanakya of legend famously untied this tuft to display his rage and tied it only when the Nanda dynasty of Magadha had been brought to its knees.

The hair of widows was shaved to enforce monasticism on them. It was this or the pyre, in medieval India, for those unfortunate women. The head is shaved to display bereavement as well as devotion.”

Source: http://devdutt.com/the-offering-of-hair/

I have spoken a lot about hairs.

Hairs in the ears which is more developed in India than other countries (see: ). Hypertrichosis.

Hairs that grow more in India due to the humid climate (see here).

Hairs that Sikh people let grow and put in a turban (see here). 

Hairs that a cricket star shaved after winning a game (see here).

And I have probably mentioned it in other posts (here and there…).

And here a few words about the business of hairs.

”Many Indian women offer their hair to deities in Hindu temples in a show of (Click on “Lire la suite” to read more)

I just got to know that the couple Russell Brand and Kate Perry got engaged and then married in India last year…

I quite like the engagement story! (Who wouldn’t??)

“After a whirlwind, four-month romance, Russell popped the question to Katy with a £30,000 Cartier gold and diamond sparkler, during a romantic break in [Jaipur] India. Russ treated his bride-to-be to the Christmas getaway and then proposed during a meticulously planned ceremony on New Year's Eve. The pair drank champagne and ate by candlelight, watching fireworks at midnight from the back of an elephant. Sneaky Russell hid Katy's two-carat rock among the flowers in their candlelit private garde.”

Then, as far as the wedding is concerned, they made

(Click on “Lire la suite” to read more)