India is an amazing country in which, along with modernity, it is still possible to meet the fulfillment of the traditions and customs of the ancestors. It is impossible to fully understand Indian culture without understanding what an Indian woman is. There is always some mystery in Indian brides, which is also what makes them so attractive.
Since ancient times Indians have believed that the beauty of a woman is concentrated in her magnificent body. Temple bas-reliefs glorify its smooth lines and graceful movements. Fantastic body forms in the understanding of the Indians symbolize health, wealth and a stable life, which for most people in India is just a dream.
Most modern Indian women are distinguished by enviable grace. It is very visible. Just pay attention to how Indian women walk. They are straight, like a string, holding their head high. That way they carry their own dignity, trying not to spill it. Perhaps the secret of this gait lies in the traditional dress of Indian women - sari. It takes time to get used to it and wear it the right away. In India, they believe that a sari not only emphasizes the beauty of the female body, but also is able to tell about the character of a woman, about the well-being of her family and, of course, about her taste.
The image of Sita, Rama's wife, is considered ideal for an Indian woman. She was sweet, friendly, noble and honest. She loved her husband with unearthly love, while other men simply did not exist for her. Indian woman always keep the house clean, and are good at raising children, cooking, as well as dressing stylishly.
Each Indian woman prefers her own special blend of spices and vegetable seasonings; as a rule, this mixture includes turmeric, ginger, garlic, coriander, aniseed, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Rice is usually served to curry, as well as various types of flat cakes, collectively known as roti. A permanent dish on an Indian table is dal, thick lentil porridge, which is eaten with curry. Popular dishes such as mattar panic are a mixture of peas with cheese, seasoned with spices, sagas gosht - lamb with spinach and alu dam, whcih is also known as potato curry.
The main purpose of any Indian women is motherhood. It is believed that a woman is the center of the active forces of nature, in contrast to the passive masculinity. She is full of creative energy, capable of creating and destroying.
Let’s take a look at the most important aspects of Indian beauty:
Face and the color of the skin. The beauty of eyes, nose and ears are very important for Indian women. Indian brides usually have a straight nose, ears that are pressed to the head, and almond-shaped eyes, that are always shining. The size of the eyes isn’t too small, which is just perfect. Indian brides primarily have brown eyes, you will also meet a lot of girls with green and blue eyes. As for color of the skin, it’s pretty simple. The lighter the color of the skin -the better. You'd be surprised, but not all Indians have equally dark complexion. For example, the northern ones are light-skinned for the most part. It is very difficult to maintain a light skin tone when the sun shines brightly in Indian for most part of the year, but Indian ladies do their best. Each Indian beauty tries to keep it in its original form, therefore they put on long cotton gloves that covers hands to the elbow. They also put on a headscarf while driving, which completely hides the face, leaving only slits for the eyes;
Makeup. Probably because naturally Indian women have dark skin and bright facial features, makeup is rarely used in everyday life. The maximum that can be noticed is eyes that have been let down with a black pencil. Everything changes if we are talking about evening make-up - in this case, many modern girls use both tone, eyeliner, and lipstick. Many girls paint their nails, but it does not always look neat, because very few girls wash off the lacquer when the first defects appear;
Height. Perfect height does not exist, because everyone is different and has their own tastes, but most of the Indian women are not tall, but not too short either, which are the parameters that most guys are looking for;
Hair. Indian men traditionally like girls with long thick shiny hair. And the girls probably like it themselves, because from childhood they use all sorts of natural oils that are rubbed into the scalp for the growth and strengthening of the hair. By the way, Indian women love to weave fresh flowers into their hair and most often decorate their hair with a jasmine wreath;
Dress color. Indian brides prefer everything that is bright. They are crazy about yellow, pink, red, green, orange, and fuchsia — these are the most common colors of saris and other Indian clothes. Also, all the colors of the peacock feather are considered beautiful, and therefore a lot of clothes are just the color like that;
Jewelry. A woman in India should always look beautiful and be well-groomed. That is why there are always a lot of jewelry on Indian brides. For this purpose, various natural and artificial materials are used. Gold jewelry is especially attractive for them. The more there is gold on the girl, the richer she is. Even if the girl was born in a very poor family, parents save money and try to buy gold earrings to their daughters as soon as possible. In addition, according to tradition, no matter how old a girl is, she has no right to show off in public with a bare neck. Therefore, it’s one of the main goals for the father to buy his daughter a gold chain.
Indian women get married at a very early age. That way they get a higher status, because the true strength of an Indian woman is revealed only after marriage. Everything that happens in a woman’s life before is only a prelude. In India, it is believed that the husband is the earthly God. Women are so firmly closing the ring of their inner world around the husband, his life, his interests, that all other men simply cease to exist for them. This is a pleasant surprise for all of the foreigners who are looking for a single Indian bride.
Indian brides love to dress beautifully for their husband. They care about their skin, their hair, their eyes, and overall appearance. They also like wearing beautiful jewelry. Indian women learn to sing and dance, and do it for their husband. And if the husband is alive and well, if he is devoted to the family, then the woman is extremely happy, because she feels like she doesn’t need anything else, and she had achieved her goal.
Tradition says that a husband is everything for an Indian brides. It’s the meaning of life, it’s a God on earth, it’s the half of a woman without whom she’s not a man, not a person, nothing.
The main signs of a married woman are the rings on the second toe of each leg, the earring in the nose and the bindi in the middle of the forehead, and not between the eyebrows, as before marriage. During the wedding, the traditional “mangal-sutra” is around the bride's neck - a string of black and gold small beads with two golden hemispheres in the middle. It’s a wedding necklace, and it replaces a wedding ring in India. There is also a silk white scarf tied over the groom's shoulder that is tied to the sari.
The wedding is considered to be completed, and the marriage is inseparable, when the husband will circle his wife seven times/
Sacred feminine force symbolizes the “tali” necklace, which the groom fastens to the bride during the marriage ceremony. This means that the man gives himself under the magical protection of the woman.
Indians believe that a woman gives a man magical protection: good luck in business, well-being and prosperity. Indian brides have enough energy to share it with their husbands.
After marriage, a new stage begins in the life of an Indian woman - life in a joint family, where her husband's relatives obey a strict hierarchy and his (and even more so her) personal opinion is absolutely not important to anyone if it goes against public opinion (neighbors, co-workers friends, family friends, etc.) or contrary to the opinion of the head of the family (often a grandmother, father or mother of her husband). If the husband is not the only child in the family, then instructions about what, to whom and how to say, file, where to look and how to dress will be given not so much to her husband as entitled, but to his mother, father or older relatives living under the same roof with him, as well as his older sisters, brothers, and even the wives of brothers.
Sometimes an Indian family consists of 50 people. The bride in the Indian family is the most vulnerable. Men give their parents all their earnings, and the mother-in-law determines what and how to spend the money on.
To disobey someone means to spoil relations with relatives or a husband, and Indian families know how to weave intrigues in Indian families very well. In order for the daughter-in-law to take root in the family, she needs to be able to please everyone at once, which is very hard to do.
Fortunately, such difficult family relationships are not always the case. Meek, hardworking, patient daughters-in-law, especially those who managed to give birth to a son, are usually the joy of the family. However, the life for childless women isn’t the most pleasant ones. They are usually pretty soon replaced by new wives.
In general, being a woman in India is not the most pleasant thing. Indians believe that if you were born a woman, then your karma is badly damaged. Being a female is nothing but paying for sins in the previous life. This is probably due to the precarious position of a married woman. Her happiness is directly dependent on the health of her husband. Being a widow for an Indian woman is like being buried alive.
Traditionally, widows are forbidden to wear long hair. They have to cut it off if their husband dies. After her husband’s funeral wife is obliged to give up all the pleasures. She has to sleep on the bare floor, eat flour soup, spend all her days praying. A widow in India has no right to remarry. She also can’t wear colored sarees - joy in the world for her no longer exists. She is forbidden to wear bracelets, earrings, rings and any other jewelry, because she no longer belongs to anyone. Widows have no right to eat more than one plate of (traditionally unsalted) rice per day, and may not eat any sweats.
It is also believed that even her shadows brings bad luck, and she will be eternally grateful if her own children are not put out of the house (and in most cases leaving the house is the only thing left to the widow). From now on, it is her fate to ask for alms and live in an ashram that was built specifically for widows (if she manages to get there) for the rest of her life. She’s also treated like a leper there. To meet a widow on the street is a bad omen, even All in all, widows become outcasts till the rest of their lives.
In the ashram, if the widow is still young and attractive for the opposite sex, she can earn money with her body. All the money will be given to the owner of the ashram (the oldest or the most respected widow), and thanks to that she will be able to get a cup of rice a day and can celebrate the biggest holidays.
All in all, it’s a very terrible experience for any woman, and it’s hard to imagine that such things still exist to this day. There should be no doubt that most of the Indian women would gladly leave their country, and marry foreigners, who are not just better looking and ambitious, but they can also provide Indian brides with a stable and happy life, which is so important.
