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A mark applied to the forehead, whose direction identifies the tradition.
Also known as: Tilak, Forehead mark, Tripundra
A tilaka is a mark applied to the forehead in Hindu practice, made with ash, sandalwood paste, clay or pigment. Its direction is the identifying feature: broadly, three horizontal lines of ash mark the Shaiva traditions, while a vertical U or Y shape marks the Vaishnava ones. It is applied for worship, for festivals and as a mark of welcome to a guest, and it is distinct from the bindi, a decorative or marital dot worn between the brows.
Identifies a tradition by its direction: three horizontal lines of ash across the brow are broadly Shaiva, and a vertical U or Y shape is broadly Vaishnava. That makes it one of the few marks worn on a person that a stranger can read without asking.
Contexts: Religion
Is applied for worship, at festivals, before a journey and as a mark of welcome to a guest, so its presence does not by itself indicate a religious specialist or an unusual occasion.
Contexts: Religion
Is not the same as a bindi, which is a dot worn between the eyebrows for decorative or marital reasons rather than as a devotional mark, though the two are frequently conflated in Western writing.
Contexts: Religion
A mark drawn on the forehead: either three roughly parallel horizontal bars across the brow, or a narrow U or Y shape rising from between the eyebrows.
Both are met in the same devotional settings.