Talk:Bindi (decoration)

message: Both this and the tilaka article stress that these are not the same thing, but they are described in basically exactly the same way. What is the difference and could someone make this clear in at least one of the two articles? Thanks Prolinol (talk) 16:54, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Difference between bindi and tilaka

message: Bindi is not just a little dot, it is also a weed and a Name or nickname. it is my nickname. my friends nickname is Bidny (her real name is Brittany). if you come and see this discussion please go to the Unicorn page and add to the disscusion and I might see it and be able to reply!
: I agree and intend to start a bindi (plant) entry. RevJohn 14:54, 22 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bindi 

message: I am wondering if this article is nonsense. My only knowledge of bindis is from Bollywood movies, but ... how is a bindi different from the smudge that people (male and female) get on their foreheads when they visit a temple, or are received as a guest and get smudged from the tray of flowers and lights symbolizing welcome? I dunno if the yoga, ayurvedic, third eye stuff is generally believed, or if the bindi is just a mark either saying "I've been through a religious ceremony" (like Ash Wednesday) or "this is my belief". Don't different shapes and colors of bindis give off different social messages? And how is a bindi related to the three white marks that South Indian Shivaites wear on their foreheads? 
And the bit re married women -- isn't that confusing the mark between the eyebrows with the red mark, sindhoor, on the center part of the hair? We need some native informants here! Zora 05:23, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Bindi is not necessarily a religious/married-women thing. Usually, women wear Bindi as they would do other ornaments. Right now, most of the Bindi (also called "Tip" in Bangla) are adhesive versions. But if you are asking about religiou significance of it, I guess somebody from India may cast some light on it. --Ragib 02:41, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  I'm unsure that this article is accurate 

message: For a custom of millions of people, you would think there would be more than just a paragraph on the subject.  Every time I hear something about Bindis I hear something different.  Some say it has caste significance, some religious, some say it indicates marriage, and even others say it is an old outdated custom with all the significance of an ear ring (by that, just for looks).  If any Wiki definition needs analitical explanation, this I am sure qualifies.  --209.112.222.98 00:20, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, yes, we need more info. The web doesn't seem to have much. Is there a forum of South Asian editors where this question could be asked? Zora 00:43, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

text: All the usage cited  by 209.112.222.98 are correct, Bindis are used for Hindu castes, marriage symbol for married Hindu Women, religious symbol, and also as a body decoration worn by women from almost all religion in South Asia. I can't help with the religious significance since I'm not well-versed in Hindu customs, but for decorative usage of it (along with pictures of Bindis taken off my wife's collection), I can help. Thanks. --Ragib 02:35, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  More information is needed 

message: Bindi is also a synonym for 
Bambaiya Hindi
I'm not familiar enough with the markup to put this in the entry.
Would someone whose better at it please do so?
--Anniepoo 18:20, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bombay Hindi Dialect 

message: regarding the sentence: "Some instances of American pop culture make amusing parallels to the bindi's appearance as similar to the laser sight of a sniper rifle." What does it mean? I ask in genuine bewilderment. Also, what are the instances? Are it really worthy of mention? Please clarify. ImpuMozhi 18:09, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds like a nonsense and incoherent sentence to me. --Ragib 19:14, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Actually, looking at it more closely, I think it means that when someone uses a sniper rifle, the laser sight on the rifle paints a red dot on the area that the bullet should hit (leaving out of account wind and the like).  The bindi looks like a sniper dot. That is, if someone is a racist who thinks killing people with bindis is funny. I think that's a racist comment. Zora 22:44, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: EXHIBIT A! http://bostonherald.com/sites/default/files/styles/default/public/media/2013/04/19/071813Tsarnaev.jpg 209.172.25.31 (talk) 03:14, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: What does it ''mean''?

message: A certain user (who I'm not going to talk to) should see WP:VAND and WP:AGF. Bakaman Bakatalk 02:39, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Reverts

message: Hello?  Isn't this getting just a little bit silly?  This talk page is umpteen kilobytes and the article itself is only a screen full.  Obviously there are some regional differences.  Describe what you know from your region as applicable to your region, and if someone from another region finds things to be the same, they can note that it's the same in their region, too.  Don't fret too much about it; you've got readers all over the world just trying to get a general idea of what this Bindi thing is all about. -- ke4roh 03:47, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  A word of reason 

message: I replaced the imported phrase "Hindu dharma" with "Hinduism" once again. Same reasoning -- this is an English language encyclopedia and we use the terms that are most familiar to readers. 
I'm also wondering about one thing in the article -- the article states that married Hindu women wear the bindi. I left that there for now, but I think that statement confuses the bindi on the forehead with the application of red to the parting of the hair that symbolizes marriage. 
I'm wondering if we should also add something re the smudge of red that is put on your forehead when you visit a Hindu temple and receive prasad. It's a smudge, not a neat bindi, but it's same place, same color in many cases ... related? Name for this? Comments welcome -- I'm not Hindu, so I'm probably ignorant of the fine points. Zora 21:45, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: That's a Teeka, or a tilak,Haphar 11:11, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I have suitably modified the wikilink.Same reasoning -- Hindu & Dharma are both English words and therefore can be used in an English Wikipedia.-Bharatveer 04:16, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: However, yet again, you have not shown that the term "Hindu Dharma", referring to Hinduism, is more common than the English language word "Hinduism". Please don't repeat the things about "Hindu" and "Dharma" (2 separate words) being present in the dictionary, your own references show Dharma to refer to a separate concept than to be an exclusive synonym for "Religion". In other words, once you show "Hindu Dharma" a common, widely used replacement for the English word "Hinduism", revert to that. Until you do so, please refrain from doing the same thing again and again. I have shown the relevant numbers regarding common usage. Thanks. --Ragib 05:41, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: User Ragib, Pls peruse Common Sense.-Bharatveer 06:34, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: Resorting to personal attacks again? Replying with an argument would have been easier. Again, you have failed to show any answer to my question: is "Hindu Dharma" a synonym for "Hinduism", and is it more common than the English language word "Hinduism". Please don't revert until you answer this. Finding the word "Dharma" in a dictionary isn't really an answer, as your own reference shows it to allude to a concept rather than be the sole synonym for religion. Thank you. --Ragib 06:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: user:ragib , Pls stop making false accusations. Where did I attack you personally? Hindu Dharma is the more correct term and there is no rule in wikipedia which says that a less common usage word should not be used.You have made a rather "strange" accusation of "gaming" the system on me, when you are the one who is doing that with the support of your cronies.-Bharatveer 06:50, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Your replies to normal, polite questions are examples. And as for reverts, the history of this article is an example. Thanks. --Ragib 06:54, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: No Ragib.You are wrong and You know that.-Bharatveer 07:52, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: An RFC for two words? Thats pretty frivolous.Bakaman 04:31, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's been done for less before -- Samir धर्म 05:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

text: The overwhelming consensus, as shown in the WP:ANB thread is that "Hindu Dharma" is not an English phrase for the religion, and not in common usage. Therefore, the matter should end here. Thanks. --Ragib 04:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hindu dharma 

message: :The term "Paki Spot" is horribly racist and shouldn't be used in this article. I'm from Manchester and if anyone did say this it would be because they didn't know what it was actually called (they would get some funny looks from those who are against racism). 
:Everyone would understand what they meant but it's an awful term.--bunnygirlxxx 18:40, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia is not censored. Wikipedia neither condones nor condemns anything. It is impartial and objective. Here, the article is merely reporting a term observed in common usage. tgies 08:55, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Any references supporting this needs to be provided. --Ragib 09:02, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: "Paki Spot"

message: I think it would be nice and maybe helpful if it was added to the article that men in both the Hindu and some Buddhist traditions wear the bindi as well as women. I myself being an ordained Buddhist Priest and former Zen monk have and do wear one for special religious events/practices.
Om System.
:You were talking about Tilaka, right? --Ragib 06:20, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  religious bindi 

message: It is correct that foreign guests on a train in north India would not have a bindi applied by a train attendant (as they are in the 2007 Wes Anderson film The Darjeeling Limited), correct? Badagnani 04:21, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That's not a bindi. 172.163.150.108 (talk) 00:22, 3 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  It's a tilak, and no, a normal train rider would not have one applied.  An honored guest in some ceremonial capacity might, however.  FellGleaming (talk) 17:30, 12 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[The Darjeeling Limited]] 

message: I recently removed three links from the external links section that were to online stores selling bindis.  But my edit was reverted without comment.  These sorts of links are entirely unencyclopedic and not in keeping with our guidelines or policy.  At least one of the links has been spammed across multiple Wikipedia articles.  Are there reasons for keeping them I'm not aware of? Thanks. -- SiobhanHansa 15:00, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Since there has been no response, I assume it was a mistake and I'll go head and bring the section back into compliance with the guidelines.  -- SiobhanHansa 21:50, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links 

message: User:Oct11988duh has been adding his/her own uploaded photos and replacing existing photos from the article. Here are some problems with the photos:
* :Image:Indian Women with Bindi on forehead.jpg - does this image illustrate a Bindi at all? This seems to have the bangles in the foreground as the main theme of the photo. The image does show part of the face of a woman (who does not appear to be Indian), but again, the "Bindi" is hardly visible in the image. What purpose does it serve? Oct1988duh replaced a much better illustrative example of a native Indian woman :Image:Indian Woman with bindi.jpg.
* Any significance of the photo of the child with Bindi?
* Why was the photo with the Bindi styles removed?
I have reverted his/her changes 3 times and will not edit it today, but I will request the user to justify the above actions. --Ragib (talk) 01:12, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Images added (and removed) by User:Oct11988duh 

message: Many of these apparently refer to a tilak, not a bindi.  Does anyone have any comments on this before I delete the relevant entries?  Fell Gleaming(talk) 01:17, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Alternative names of bindi

message: The term 'binki' is used 16 times in the start of the article, but from then on the term 'bindi' is used. I think this is just an error - am I right?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bullestock (talk • contribs) 08:49, 8 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  BInki? 

message: The article continues to rail against alleged "misconceptions" by saying things like "in modern times" etc. But it does not explain anything about historical significance. Why take pains to say "in modern times it is not X/Y/Z" unless it was the case at one time? But the article does not spend any time on this. The article's choice of words and repeatedly insistent tone of smacks of historical revisionism. - 174.46.204.210 (talk) 23:05, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: This could be cleared up by moving the "modern times" section to follow the "religious significance" section. I agree that the article seems argumentative or assumes prior knowledge in arguing against supposed misconceptions. I'm going to move the sections now.  Probably there will need to be some fine tuning of transitions and eliminating redundancies. — ℜob C. alias ÀLAROB 14:55, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  No historical context 

message: Probably this article is what most readers will be looking for, and it be the main article.  It should be renamed 'Bindi' and the disambig should be renamed. LaTeeDa (talk) 13:19, 4 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rename 

message: would like a different page w/ the title bottu.
it's horribly offensive and dismissive to give a small mention of that word and somehow use bindi as a de facto word.Not everyone in India speaks Urdu/Hindi.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.147.224.225 (talk) 21:42, 25 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  bottu 

message: I'm from Malaysia, I never knew 'nande' is pejorative until now. What exactly does 'nande' mean? I only know Nandi is the white bull.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 183.171.166.217 (talk) 04:58, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nande 

message: There's already a picture of a woman in bindi,i don't think there is a need to keep a pic of another old woman, traditionally in India it is worn among the upper caste Hindu Brahmin woman who are of a different type then the woman in that pic. Also note that the Vedas, Upanishads, Gita were all the works of upper caste Hindus i.e Brahmins, thus it is befetting to keep a photo of a Brahmin woman as a mark of respect for their ancestor works(wearing of Bindi started among Brahmin woman at first),the photo of the woman in red sari at the top is that of an Indian Actress who is a Brahmin Hindu ,thus it is kept there ,i hope u get the point. Rim sim (talk) 05:23, 28 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Nowhere in this article does it mention bindis being exclusive to any particular caste. You'll have to find a more compelling argument to back that up, especially considering the sources explicitly say bindis aren't even exclusive to one religion. Something better than using bogus edit summaries, but is it worth violating your topic ban a second time? Blackguard 08:17, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Bindi-Image of woman

message: Substituted at 09:41, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: For this article to be properly encyclopedic, more investigation is needed to trace the origin and history of the red forehead dot's usage in Chinese culture (it is still painted on the foreheads of Chinese children for certain festivals). Although this is not mentioned in the current version of the article, this is almost certainly a borrowing from Indian culture via the spread of Buddhism. Chinese statues of Buddha often have a dot on the forehead. 173.89.236.187 (talk) 02:19, 30 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Red forehead dot in China 

message: Hello,  and . Someone seems to have changed page title from Bindi to Pottu, I think the word Pottu is not used outside Tamil Nadu and i can't find Sanskrit "Pottu", while Bindi is common;y used word across most parts of India and Nepal. Please look into this.117.198.244.227 (talk) 16:29, 9 June 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bindi or Pottu? 

message: The redirect Bindi (decoration has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached.  Utopes (talk / cont) 07:38, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  "[[:Bindi (decoration]]" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]