Talk:Gaye holud

Why is mehndi/henna use being downplayed for Hindus?
I'm brand new, and I apologize that the best I can do is this infodump, but I'm hoping more experienced editors can help. This article contains language that implies that Bengali Hindus lack an elaborate, prenuptial mehndi application tradition. Another sentence claims, without citation, that Hindus do it too, but only "these days" and that it's only applied on the palms of the hands. From my family's experience, I know this is all incorrect, but it's been a pain to find reliable sources for something so obvious. Here's what other people contributed to Wikipedia to represent stereotypical Bengali Hindu weddings:


 * Zoom in on the hands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Bengal#/media/File:Pani_Grahan_-_Bengali_Hindu_Wedding_-_Howrah_2015-12-06_7722.JPG
 * Not just the palms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_Hindu_wedding#/media/File:Feet-in-alta.jpg

Even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi claims that it's traditional and typical for Hindus to use mehndi at weddings, though I'm not sure what they're citing. This Vogue article https://www.vogue.in/content/the-history-of-bridal-mehandi-how-the-tradition-came-to-be is a little better researched, but seems to be using "Indian" interchangeably with "Hindu", which is both confusing and problematic. It's hard to search for Hindu weddings and mehndi, because I'm getting overwhelmed with poorly-written, plagiary-filled bridal beauty blogs and service providers. Including the Vogue article, they all refer to the concept of "Solah Shringar" as an ancient list of 16 beautifying decorations/ornaments/rituals; some claim it's "Vedic" or in the Upanishads, but no useful citations.

This blog post https://www.hindu-blog.com/2018/12/story-of-origin-of-solah-shringar-16-adornment-names-list.html was super helpful in tracking down any list at all. The bottom list has item #14: "Chitran (Making pictures on the body – tattoos which are not permanent)", which is distinct from red alta dye in #15, so probably indicates henna. I finally found the relevant 16-item list of Radha's decorations on page 13 of https://archive.org/details/ujjvalanilamanibysrirupagoswami/page/n13/mode/2up, which translates it as "14. Her limbs are decorated with colorful designs and pictures", again suggesting mehndi. Earlier on this page, it says that Radha is praised in all of the Vedas, and cites the Tantras as the source of this list, and another list describing 12 ornaments. Alright, so now we have evidence that mehndi was being promoted as a beauty standard of Hindu divine love (Radha-Krishna narratives) in the 1500s, by a core philosopher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism (a Bengali Hindu sect). This timing obviates the need to determine whether mehndi is "ancient" or Moghul, as apparently the Moghul court had a 16-item beauty routine including mehndi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_clothing, with real citations!). Therefore, I feel that the burden should be on the editor who thinks mehndi isn't a huge deal at traditional Bengali Hindu weddings to provide evidence of whatever difference they perceive, and to write in a way that clearly indicates mehndi's role as a common and long-beloved part of Hindu weddings too.

Also, the claim that grooms don't get any mehndi isn't always true--during my search today, I saw pictures of a Bengali Hindu groom's decorated hand during Sindoor Daan. Simpler design, but I'd be surprised if that's alta.

The only reason I haven't made these modifications myself is that I'm not 100% sure what this has to do with the topic of this page, Gaye Holud. From what I was told as a kid, I'd expect Gaye Holud and Mehndi Shonde to be the same thing, but this is even harder information to find a solid source on. Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone more experienced at editing pages and tracking down good sources. Spectralradius (talk) 13:16, 3 February 2022 (UTC)