{"id":4938,"date":"2021-12-12T13:46:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T08:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=4938"},"modified":"2021-12-12T13:53:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T08:23:23","slug":"the-ivory-surmedaani-and-bindi-stick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/the-ivory-surmedaani-and-bindi-stick\/","title":{"rendered":"The ivory surmedaani and bindi stick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY RASHI PURI
New Delhi, India<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a part of her trousseau, on her wedding \u2013 which incidentally took place during the India Pakistan war of 1971 \u2013 my maternal grandmother, Shashi Bhalla (ne\u00e9 Sood) carried a few objects from her mother\u2019s trousseau from Bombay to Delhi. Two of these were later passed on to her daughter, my mother, Sapna Puri, and have now found their way to me. A surmedaani, and an ivory stick used to apply bindi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surma or kajal is a dark susbtance used on the lower waterline of the eye to darken them for shringaar<\/em>. It is applied with a fine, long stick called suramchi,<\/em> and stored at in a daani or container called surmedaani which literally means, a container for surma. Like many women across the Indian Subcontinent, my grandmother also made her surma at home using a recipe which, like this daani was passed down to generations of women in the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year, nani would make surma on Diwali, and distribute it amongst her sisters and cousins, as nobody, apart from her learnt the family recipe. Like her mother, Vedvati Sood (ne\u00e9 Beri), nani stored the surma in this daani bequeathed to her, and the excess was kept in small boxes made of chaandi. Homemade surma has medicinal value that cools and refreshes the eyes. Due to old age, nani has stopped making and using surma, but she still recalls the refreshing feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second object is a long stick which nani used to apply bindi. While I have not been able to find its traditional name, it is an important part of the shringaar ritual, as wearing a bindi, especially among Hindu women is particularly important. Traditionally, bindi is in the form of powder or paste, which would be applied, mostly by women, on their forehead, aligned with the nose, and between the eyes. Often in different colours and designs. My grandmother would apply her bindi using a thin sheet of chaandi which had a  design for bindi cut through it. Placing the sheet on her forehead, nani would dip the end of the stick in the bindi paste or powder, and trace the design on her forehead, by filling the outlined design on the sheet.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n