While in other places or times similar markings may have had more ritual and caste-related significance, nowadays in the Janakpur area Maithil women report that they are worn exclusively for fashion purposes. There was one mirror in my apartment, above the bathroom sink, which allowed me to see myself from just above the breasts up. On the left side were stuck a few used tika I had pressed there with my finger, having pulled them off my forehead at the end of some day, or at least at the end of some social occasion. I hadn't bought any of them. They'd been given and applied to my body by women I knew.
Women delight in beautiful women.
Some married ones like to make their own selves beautiful every morning, like the goddess Lakshmi. Or Sita, the wife of Rama, whose abduction and rescue is told in the epic Ramayana, and who is said to have been born and wed right here in Janakpur. Hindi film stars postered on mud walls extend the fantasy of beauty for women and girls. The tika draws attention. They know I'm a well-meaning ignoramus.