Bangali brides and their ancient love for ‘kolka’
Chandan art, or kolka, was common in ancient India, as sandalwood paste has cooling properties. This tradition evolved into an elaborate and artistic makeup look for brides
When Arghyamitra got married last January, she went to one of the most prominent makeup artists in the country to have her bridal makeup done. Nonetheless, she could not find anyone who could apply chandan (sandalwood paste) on her forehead to create 'kolka', or paisley designs. No one at the beauty parlours knew how to apply them.
"I always knew that I would wear elaborate 'shabeki' (traditional) chandan at my wedding. For a year, I looked for someone who knows how to apply it in Dhaka. In the end, one of my sister's acquaintances, who was a fine arts student back then, came to our rescue," Arghyamitra said.
The white 's' shaped kolkas on her cheeks also had small leaf patterns around them. On the middle of her forehead sat a perfectly round 'teep' or bindi, surrounded by similar, leaf-like strokes. Red and white dots around her brows complete the bridal look.
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Although she wanted it to be more elaborate, there was not much time, and the dots placed earlier by the make-up artist did not leave much space for new designs.
"Kauney chandan (kauney means bride in Bangla) is a must in shanatan weddings, as it is considered auspicious. So, women apply it as ornamentation. I like the traditional elaborate designs, but nobody seems to apply chandan like that anymore," she said.
Chandan art, also known as kolka because of the predominance of kolka patterns, was common in ancient India as sandalwood paste has cooling properties. This tradition evolved into an elaborate and artistic makeup look.
With a bindi in the middle, the white or yellowish chandan mostly covered the cheekbones and the upper brow areas.
Chandan paste takes time to dry and sweating can easily smear the designs. So, modern makeup artists choose red and white acrylic paint.
Depending on the intricacy of the design, a forehead-covering chandan may take anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes.
"Acrylic gives more binding, which allows the artiste to draw intricate lines and motifs. However, traditional kolka designs don't include such thin lines," said Suchanda Banerjee, a Kolkata-based artiste who also loves to work with alpana and henna art.
"My makeup artiste mixed a little bit of acrylic with the chandan paste so that the design stays for a long time. Otherwise, it could smear, as I had to remain seated for a long time for the wedding ceremonies," Arghyamitra said.
According to Suchanda, at one time Bangali brides had all but stopped wearing chandan on their foreheads. However, these days, many of them are once again choosing to don them.
Sanjeeda (not her real name), one of the makeup artistes at Red Beauty Salon said, "However, the brides of today prefer simple designs, mostly with small dots."
Motifs used in chandan art
According to Suchanda, traditionally, chandan art is not supposed to contain intricate vines and details. Because of the consistency of the sandalwood paste, it cannot be applied in ultra thin lines like chemical acrylic, poster or fabric paints.
However, contemporary artists are creating such designs.
"The traditional folk elements of Bengal are very simple, taken from nature. For example, one of the most common features of traditional chandan art was 'lobongo chhaap' or imprints made using cloves," she said.
A clove looks like a flower with a circular centre and four points in the four corners. It was dipped in sandalwood paste and the imprints created a pretty design.
The shurjo or sun motif was also very popular, with sandalwood strokes going outwards. The rice or paddy sheath, little mango motifs (which eventually transformed into the paisley motif), or simple tilaks - all the motifs used in the bridal chandan were taken from nature.
"Apart from the decorative part, there is always some spiritual significance to these things. Take the tilak that the Hindu devotees apply on their forehead; it is believed to be placed on the third eye."
The idea of beautifying or decorating also came from a sense of belongingness. For example, the alpana designs on the floors or courtyards were made with rice flour.
"In fact inside the prayer room, we put alpana on the floor and keep the plate of food offering on it so that the insects, ants and other organisms can eat the rice flour and don't touch whatever is offered to the god or goddess."
Painting on the face and the body
In ancient India, painting on the body and the face was a common thing. According to an article in the Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art titled 'Cosmetics and Coiffure in Ancient India' by Moti Chandra, the women sometimes painted their foreheads with particular designs in sandalwood known as 'lalatika' and 'visesaka'.
It is mentioned in Harshacharita - the biography of Indian emperor Harsha, written by Sanskrit writer Banabhatta in the seventh century CE - that the auspiciousness of festivities and marriage ceremonies was emphasised by wearing sandalwood lines on the foreheads.
The seventh century Sanskrit book 'Amarakosa' talks about two varieties of face and breast decorations, namely, 'patralekha' and 'patranguli'.
Patralekha probably connotes the flower or foliage designs drawn on the face with the help of a brush, while patranguli indicates the designs painted with fingertips or with the help of a paint stick.
The book mentions four varieties of patterns painted on the forehead, namely, 'tamalapatra', 'tilaka', 'citraka', and 'visesaka'.
Tamalapatra seems to indicate either the mark painted on the forehead with the juice of the 'tamala' fruit, or as is more probable, some sort of pattern cut from the 'tamala' leaf and stuck to the forehead.
Tilaka indicates the mark on the forehead with sandalwood, musk, red lead etc. Citraka probably indicates the pattern painted in more than one colour. Visesaka is applied as a generic term for all kinds of distinctive forehead marks.
The art of painting patterns on the cheeks was so much in fashion that Vatsyayana included it in his list of the 64 arts in Kamasutra.
The women in Kamasutra painted patterns on the foreheads and cheeks using many cut out designs from betel and tamala leaves, papyrus, etc.
The designs were drawn on the face with a paint stick. Sometimes, a part of the design was cut out from fresh leaves and stuck to the cheeks. This is still seen in places like Mathura during weddings.
Interestingly, Christian era women were also very fond of painting their faces and shoulders with simple colours and artistic designs.
