Holy Faces of India

A photo collection of sectarian marking of India's holy men. Whenever one visits a temple in India, it is common to see the foreheads of devotees and priests adorned with markings that are commonly known as tilaka. When the British first arrived in the subcontinent they unwittingly assumed these signs to be 'caste marks' or signs that indicated the wearer's particular social status. Actually tilaka is a sectarian mark worn by a devotee of a particular deity and denotes one's devotion to that deity. Tilaka, or pundra as it is also called, can be classified in three divisions — urdhva (vertical), tiryak (horizontal) and vartula (circular).