Fading ink of tradition

Grinding charcoal with a few drops of goat's milk, 60-year-old Basran Jogi peers at the faces of two small sisters preparing for their first tattoos – a tradition that stretches back centuries in the Hindu villages that dot Sindh's border with India.

As rural Hindu communities in Pakistan become more connected to nearby cities in recent years, many young women have opted out of the "old ways" of elder women needling delicate shapes onto the faces, hands, and arms of younger generations.

"First draw two straight lines between the eyebrows," Jogi instructs her friend poised with a sewing needle in a village on the outskirts of the rural town of Umerkot. "Now insert the needle along the lines – but slowly, until it bleeds."

Six-year-old Pooja barely winces as dotted circles and triangles are tattooed onto her chin and forehead. "I am ready too," her seven-year-old sister Champa declares eagerly beside her.

"These signs set us apart from others," said 20-year-old Durga Prem, a computer science student who grew up in the nearby city of Badin. "Our generation doesn't like them anymore. In the age of social media, young girls avoid facial tattoos because they think these marks will make them look different or unattractive."

Her sister Mumta has also refused to accept the tattoos that mark their mother and grandmothers. "But if we were still in the village, we might have had these marks on our faces or arms," she reflects.

Just 2% of Pakistan's population is Hindu, mostly in rural areas of Sindh.

Activist Mukesh Meghwar, a prominent voice for religious harmony, believes younger generations do not want to be instantly identified as Hindu in public. Many Muslims believe tattoos are not permissible in Islam, and even those who have them rarely display them in public.

"We can't force our girls to continue this practice," Meghwar told AFP. "It's their choice. But unfortunately, we may be the last generation to see tattoos on our women's faces, necks, hands, and arms."

Few Hindus that AFP spoke with recalled the meaning behind the practice of tattoos or when it began, but anthropologists believe it has been part of their cultural heritage for hundreds of years.

"These symbols are part of the culture of people who trace their roots to the Indus civilisation," anthropologist Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro said, referring to a Bronze Age period. "These 'marks' were traditionally used to identify members of a community and to ward off evil spirits."

Admiring the work on the grinning faces of the two little sisters, elder Jogi agreed that it was an ancestral tradition that enhanced the beauty of women. "We don't make them for any specific reason – it's a practice that has continued for years. This is our passion," she said.

The marks that begin dark black quickly fade to a deep green colour, but last a lifetime. "They belong to us," said Jamna Kolhi, who received her first tattoos as a young girl alongside Jogi.

"These were drawn by my childhood friend—she passed away a few years ago. Whenever I see these tattoos, I remember her and those old days. It's a lifelong remembrance."