Mehndi is one of the famous art forms among both male and female sections of the society. Festivals, marriages or any special days woman mostly decorate their hands completely with it. Where as men beautify their palms with mehndi.
The marriages in our country go incomplete without a mehndi ceremony.
Searching the origin of this method of brightening our hands through mehndi, we come across various depictions. Mehndi was as an art and as a form of medicine and cosmetics was used across India, North Africa and also in middle eastern countries.
When the religious text Bible refers mehndi to camphere, the famed Ajanta caves depicts mehndi in its arts engraved. The Mughals are said to be the propagators of mehndi as an art in India. In ancient times, applying of mehndi took the work of an entire day or two. From someone plucking the mehndi leaves to others rubbing the leaves against boulder rocks and smashing it to make a semi liquid paste form had a tedious task. People then applied the paste on hands by smearing the complete hands with the paste made. The artistic mind of man evolved in making patterns of circle on palms, putting on the top of all the fingers in a cap format and so on continued.
It was by twentieth century, the designs and patters were made through mehndi says the history.
Today, applying mehndi is no more a tedious task. People easily get a coned mehndi from shops and apply it looking at the designs of their needs. Making it further easy, vivid pattern stickers are in market which has even reduced the time of waiting for the paste to dry up. But with evolution of time and ease in the process of mehndi application, the real quality and the fragrance of mehndi have faded away. Whatever people use today are more chemical fillers in the name of mehndi paste. And so, ‘organic’ is the new talk of the town to attract the customers.