Navratri day 8
Day 8: Ashthami
Today is day 8, of Maha Gauri, the most compassionate side of Ma Durga. The epitome of beauty, purity, serenity and tranquility. On this day, especially in India, little girls are worshipped. It is believed that they are an manifestations of the goddess herself. At the Bangalore Ashram, the Chandi Homa was conducted, the most powerful of the fire ceremonies dedicated to the ultimate feminine force on this universe, a 5 hour long meditation. Per the ancient Vedic texts.
In the photographs is one of the last generations of the tattooed faced Chin Women of Myanmar, one of the youngest ones with a tattooed face.
The remote mountain region of Burma’s Chin State was known for its beautiful women who followed a thousand year-old tradition of tattooing their faces. Just as it was with the Apatani women, the tattoos were originally applied to make the women less appealing to protect them from being kidnapped by the Burmese king who wanted them as concubines, but it is also believed that it was a means to identify the women’s tribe in case they were kidnapped by other tribes. The tattoos were made on the faces of girls between the age of 11 and 15 with cane thorns, symbolized by half moons and Y symbol on their foreheads that mirrored an animist totem planted in their villages. The tradition was banned in the 1960’s.