Indian beauty is feminine and flowing, dramatic and mysterious.  It carries the weight of thousands of years. The vibrant silk saris and shimmering golden chains call back to the times of majestic Rajas and warriors atop horses, when women wore their hair to their waists and princesses bathed in milk and honey.  Indeed, until just recently, much of Indian style and beauty has remained untouched since antiquity.

Indian wisdom and Hindu philosophy can be traced back to the Vedas, a vast system of knowledge that is collected in four texts and which dates back at least 6000 years.  Ayurveda, the medical portion of the texts, asserts that beauty is largely based on overall health and dictates the use of solely natural products for healing and preventative medicine. According to ayurveda, which exists today as a medical system in India, clear, glowing skin is deeply connected to the digestive system. In order to maintain the healthy skin and strong, shiny hair – both of which are very highly valued in Indian society -  women must eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and put nothing on their skin that cannot also be eaten (sesame oil, milk and rose water can be found in both the kitchen pantry and the bathroom cabinet).

Away from men and society, beauty tips in India were largely learned in the multigenerational home. Daughters sat patiently as their mothers massaged their scalps with coconut oil, threaded away unwanted hair and taught them how to line their famously beautiful eyes with kohl.  Women learned the hydrating, softening, and exfoliating qualities of milk baths in private.

Historically, curves and flesh on Indian women were seen as symbols of lush fertility. Robust health was an integral part of beauty standards and ancient Indian texts refer lovingly to round, full, “moonlike” faces.  The name “Chandra”, Sanskrit for moon goddess, was popular in ancient India.

However, in 1991, this ancient ideal began to change.  India’s government decided to liberalize the country’s economy by joining the world market, and as the  doors opened to the rapidly globalizing world, Hollywood starlets soon flashed their lean, athletic bodies on screens across the Indian subcontinent.  Corporate Bangalore got more than just jobs with the outsourcing boom as saris were soon replaced by short skirts and the venerable long hair was chopped.  Western jobs and goods flooded the country, and with them came great changes in acceptable norms and beauty standards.

It was the European and American ideal of fair skin, however, which touched a strong nerve. In India, skin color is a weighty issue.  Dark skin is frequently associated with manual labor and color alone can fuel class-consciousness and discrimination. Girls who are born with darker skin often feel enormous pressure to lighten up. For many decades a product called “Fair and Lovely” - a skin cream that contains lightening agents – has dominated the market.

But interestingly, it is this same influx of worldly images that seems to be giving Indian women a chance to rebel against this archaic stereotype, widening the scope of ideals by making a spectrum of skin colors more acceptable.

Still, many mothers and grandmothers watch this first generation of globalized Indian women with disbelief, hoping that the archaic tips and rituals that brought Indian women their graceful beauty for thousands of years are remembered and recorded somewhere for future generations to rediscover.

Originally published by BeE Woman Magazine, Winter 2007