Indian appearance. Diary of an average woman

India is a country with an incredible history and unique original culture. The special flavor of this nation has long fascinated and captivated the minds of Europeans. A separate place in the list of India's wealth is occupied by the fair sex, born in this state. look mysterious and mystical. From the inhabitants of any other countries, they are distinguished by a special become, some kind of inner strength and definitely bright and rich outfits. Let's try to figure out what we all should learn from them and what secrets "Indian beauty" consists of.

Traditions in clothes

Indian women pay special attention to their appearance. A knowledgeable person can determine the status, social status and religious affiliation of the fair sex in national dress standing in front of him only by her appearance. The basis of the wardrobe of any woman who respects traditions is the sari - a unique garment made from a large fabric that is fixed according to the figure. For Indian women, such an outfit has a deep meaning. The sari is usually made for a particular lady, the patterns on it tell about her life and worldview. Such clothes in themselves are quite practical - it is not difficult to take care of them, it is easy to store them. Usually, girls are taught the skill of wearing and winding a sari from the age of 12.

Bright details of the image

Indian women wear a lot of jewelry. Gold and precious stones are especially honored. Bracelets are worn on both hands, there should be a lot of them, and when moving, they should ring and shimmer in the sun. A popular decoration is a nose piercing. A ring is worn in the puncture, and by its location it is possible to understand from which region the woman is from. If the piercing is in the left nostril, we have a native of the north, and if in the right - a southerner. Rings for toes are considered another national decoration-amulet. However, today they are worn mainly in the villages. But ankle bracelets and necklaces around the neck are chosen by many ladies.

Appearance of an Indian woman and marriage

One glance at a woman from India is enough to understand whether she is married or not. Traditionally made and proudly worn usually after the wedding. We all know that Indian women should have a dot on their forehead. But in young girls it is located between the eyebrows, and in married women it is higher. Another important sign of marriage is the ring on the middle toe. However, this tradition is gradually fading into the past.

In addition, married women dye parting on their heads. There is another interesting tradition: during the wedding, the groom ties a special necklace around the neck of his chosen one - a thali. It symbolizes the unity of spouses and the magical protection that a woman gives to a man. However, it is not customary to wear a waist for show, on the contrary, for the sake of the well-being of her husband, a lady should hide him from prying eyes.

Indian beauty ideals

It sounds paradoxical, but not all Indian women are satisfied with their appearance. While we think that beauties in saris are the most beautiful women in the world, Indian women have their own ideals and strive to live up to them in every possible way. So, in the first place in the list of signs of "real" beauty for these ladies is white skin. Indeed, not all Indians are swarthy; residents of the northern regions can boast of a completely “Slavic” appearance. They have light eyes, white skin,

And it is precisely such external data that are considered signs of higher castes. And therefore, many natives of the southern provinces, who have swarthy skin, whiten it in every possible way with the help of modern cosmetics. Modern India in many ways remains true to its traditions. For example, despite fashion trends from European countries, a feminine figure with rounded shapes is held in high esteem here. A few folds at the waist for an Indian woman are a matter of pride, not extra centimeters. Provided that they do not interfere with graceful movement and walking with a perfectly straight back.

How do Indian women live?

In India, there is still a rigid social stratification, reinforced by the difference in observed traditions in different families and the diversity of religious beliefs in society. And yet, to a greater extent, patriarchy flourishes here. Marriages are still concluded by agreement of the relatives of the newlyweds. Often the bride and groom hardly know each other before the wedding. The attitude towards women is ambivalent, on the one hand, they are revered and surrounded by care from childhood, on the other hand, it is believed that the main task of the fair sex is to become a good wife and mother. In wealthy families, women are not supposed to work, and all their hobbies come down to raising children and communicating with relatives. But at the same time, housework and helping her husband in his professional activities are not considered serious work.

India today

Beautiful Indian women have long declared themselves to the world. Residents of this country win high-profile titles in world beauty contests, act in films and perform on stage. They are still far from European feminists, but today there are many Indian women who are striving to build a career or are engaged in creativity. Modern India provides its women with enough opportunities for self-realization. Often, the fair sex even receives the approval and help of their family if they want to go into business or politics. As for appearance - in large cities you can increasingly see girls in jeans and T-shirts or ladies in their prime in business attire. However, traditional saris and jewelry are always in the wardrobe of these “new” Indian women and are taken out of the closet on especially solemn occasions.

The most beautiful women in the world reveal their secrets

Each country has its own folk recipes for health and beauty, and they are in India. And thanks to the belated development of the local cosmetic industry, many of them have been tested for generations and are actively used today. Let's start with nutrition. A feature of Indian cuisine is the abundance of spices and spicy food. According to many local actresses and dancers, it is pepper that allows them to keep their harmony and beauty. And this interesting fact is confirmed by scientists. Indeed, this spice stimulates metabolic processes and prevents the accumulation of excessive body fat. But be careful - the abuse of spicy foods can lead to serious problems with the digestive system.

A simple and cheap secret for a beautiful face: accustom yourself to washing with cold water. This is an excellent exercise for blood vessels and a natural way to narrow down. Many Indian women use food in their personal care. Fresh fruits and vegetables, spices and herbs, as well as natural oils are the components of masks, homemade creams and skin scrubs that are popular in this country. This is one of the rules of Ayurveda - effective cosmetics are obtained only from what can be eaten.

The envy of many is caused by the chic curls of Indian beauties. The main secret is a daily head massage and the rejection of the use of chemical coloring agents. Indeed, many Indian women still prefer to prepare even decorative cosmetics on their own from natural products. If the hair does not grow well, and the skin begins to peel off, you should use coconut oil. It is simply applied with massage movements to areas of the body that need additional nutrition, or to the entire length of the curls.

Folk beauty recipes from India

Not only makes her so beautiful and charming. All the fair sex take care of themselves in the same way as their peers around the world. You can prepare a scrub for the face and the whole body from dry green peas. The grains should be ground with a coffee grinder, and then diluted with water to a creamy consistency. This composition is applied to the skin with massage movements, and then washed off with water.

Turmeric spice is found in many cosmetic recipes. However, it must be used with caution. The thing is that turmeric is a persistent natural dye and for this reason is only suitable for dark skin. Consider one emollient for the skin: bran is taken for a glass of milk. A pinch of turmeric is added to the mixture. The finished composition is applied to the entire body before the bath.

What should we learn from Indian women?

Indian culture is incredibly popular today. Often, outfits reminiscent of saris and national motifs of this country appear on the world's fashion catwalks, which are guessed in the jewelry and make-up of models. An Indian married woman has the right to draw or stick a special point on her forehead - a bindi. Today, many Russian women wear such jewelry at themed parties or just to create an interesting image.

Mehendi - henna drawings on the body, which last from several days to 2 weeks, have recently gained particular popularity in our country. Jewelry made in India is also popular with ladies all over the world and is often worn with the most casual clothing. Women of India for the entire period of the development of civilization have come up with many interesting and beautiful items of clothing and accessories. So let's say "Thank you" to them! and let's hope that the influence of European culture will not kill the national flavor, but will only improve and complement them.

So, there are 4 main ethnicities that make up the Indian diaspora: Tamils, Marathas, Hindustanis and Bengalis. Due to the peculiarities of the climate of their home states, representatives of these groups have characteristic differences in external indicators. There is an opinion that all Indians are small and swarthy, but this opinion is erroneous.

The northern, southern, eastern and western peoples of India differ from each other, as, for example, the Norwegians differ from the Spaniards. Perhaps to the untrained eye, these differences are not so striking, but meanwhile, they are colossal.

The entire population of India is divided primarily into two races - the Aryan Indians and the Dravidian peoples, of which the latter were the original inhabitants of the country. Skopin V.N. Central Asia and India. - M., 1904. - p. 76. The general distinguishing features are as follows: the southern Dravidians have a skin of a darker color. Aryan Indians are Caucasians. Their skin color ranges from dark olive to yellow-brown. They inhabit the north and center of India. In the East of India, Mongoloid peoples live: undersized, short-headed, with a yellow skin tone, slanting eyes, straight hair and a flat nose. Melvarth A. India. - L., 1927. - p. 97.

Therefore, we can say that the Hindustanis, the inhabitants of the northern state, are typical Caucasians. They are tall, have European features, light brown skin. In India, Hindustanis are considered the ideal of beauty. It is representatives of this race that are filmed in films, and Hindustani girls have long represented the country at international beauty contests.

Bengalis living in East India are Mongoloids. Their appearance is similar to the Nepalese peoples, or, as they are called in India, the Gurkhas. Main features: small stature, lack of vegetation on the body and face, only on the head - straight coarse hair, a flat nose, a characteristic Mongoloid incision of the eyes. Bengalis are hereditary farmers. However, now, due to the deplorable state of agriculture in the state, many wealthy families are concerned about the future of their children. Therefore, the majority of Indian students are Bengalis who come here for higher education in order to raise the family's authority in their homeland, as well as their financial situation. Dyakov A.M. The National Question in Modern India. - M.: Eastern literature, 1963. - p. 106.

Marathas, natives of the Western part of India, are also Caucasoids, but the close proximity of the descendants of the Dravidians affected their genetics. Marathas are a cross between Hindustanis and Bengalis. Main features: Marathas - medium height, with European features, but with rather dark skin, with straight hair. The section of their eyes can be both Caucasoid and Mongoloid. The Marathas who came to Moscow from Bombay and its environs are mostly businessmen. They have their own shops, firms, entertainment centers in Moscow.

And finally, the last group is the Tamils, who came from Madras, which is located in the South of India. The Tamils ​​are typical descendants of the Dravidians. At home, the Tamils ​​in 1961 even fought for the independence of the state. They consider themselves the true children of India, and the rest of the peoples - the invaders of their land. Indeed, the Dravidians are those peoples who inhabited the expanses of India before the arrival of the Aryans. Tamils ​​are proud of their origins and clearly separate themselves from Caucasians. Outwardly, the Tamils ​​look like this: small stature, almost black skin, curly hair, abundant facial and body hair, but at the same time they have large, wide-open eyes, rather of a Caucasoid type. There, - p. 151. Tamils ​​are one of the most literate peoples of India. They go to Moscow to receive their second education, or they are invited by the diaspora to work in firms as lawyers, financiers, managers, programmers. Alekseev V.I., Makarenko V.A. Tamil country. - M.: Thought, 1965. - p. 49.

So, from this paragraph it became clear that the Indian diaspora is quite diverse in terms of composition of participants. In particular, this diversity is reflected in the appearance of the Indians who are part of the diaspora.

The character of the Indians is mysterious and not entirely clear.

Caste laws have formed a kind of stereotypes of behavior among the Indians. People from different varnas have different character traits, but there are typical “all-India” features in their behavior. But first, let's talk about the differences.

Natives of the Brahmin varna are naturally pious, highly intellectual, silent, they have a highly developed self-esteem. They have a good command of their feelings, and can hide irritability and displeasure. These people are aware of their superiority, but are not inclined to advertise it. They are responsible and willing to help others in need.

Representatives of the second-ranking varna are kshatriyas, i.e. warriors. They derived their descent from the lower castes or from an alien element who acquired the right of citizenship for their donations to the benefit of religion. These are proud and arrogant people. They are the complete opposite of the varna of the Brahmins. Kshatriyas are brave, too confident in themselves and in their rightness. They are lovers of arguing, and, not listening to the arguments of the interlocutor, they will still insist on their own. Arguments can lead to fights. Kshatriyas are hot, impulsive people, often driven by their feelings and ambitions. It is hard to bear the superiority of other people. Strong leaders. Kotovsky G.G. India: society, power, reforms. - M.: Eastern literature, 2003. - p. 183.

The third varna is vaishya. This is the varna of merchants. Many of today's Indian businessmen come from this varna. The family vocation, of course, could not but leave a mark on their character. These are smart, cunning people for whom their own interests are above all. If they will help someone, then they will definitely demand compensation. They respect the Brahmins and fear the Kshatriyas, but at the same time their respect and fear is only a screen, a cover to lull the vigilance of both. The lively mind of the vaishyas, often uneducated people, is constantly occupied with the thought of profit. All their actions are aimed at its increase. They do nothing just like that, while they do not disdain lies. Benefit for oneself is the main motto of the Vaishyas. Realizing the benefits of higher education, the vaishyas send their children to study. So many Indian students in Moscow are from the Vaishya Varna.

Shudra - the fourth varna - was composed mainly of persons of non-Aryan origin, from an alien element, and from persons descended from a mixture of different castes. The entire composition of the fourth varna is very diverse in its origin. Skopin V.N. Central Asia and India. - M., 1904. - p. 56-58. These people have been accustomed to obey since ancient times. They are silent, often gloomy, especially if they are in the company of people from other varnas. Even now, when the caste limits are practically erased, the Shudras still continue to behave as before. At home, few of them enter the university, do any prestigious work. Basically, these are taxi drivers, workers of factories and factories. The lack of education is compensated by excellent knowledge and, most importantly, the preservation of Indian folklore. You can hardly meet people from this varna in Moscow.

After the main and specific differences in the characters of Indians - representatives of different varnas, it is logical to trace similar traits of the Indian character.

Indians are spiritual. Religiosity has been in their blood since time immemorial, be it Buddhism, Jainism, or the many branches of Hinduism. Indians simply need to believe in higher powers, otherwise their entire existence, all their goals, tasks, life aspirations lose all meaning.

By nature, Indians are polite. But being very polite towards another person, the Indian at the same time demands the same towards himself. If this does not happen, then politeness is quickly replaced by coldness and indifference. Indians initially treat strangers with trust. It is easy to earn their love and friendship. However, once this trust has been broken, it is almost impossible to regain it.

Special mention should be made of the superstition of the Indians. They clearly follow their signs and observe customs. Breaking the customs is a serious crime for an Indian. And to disobey signs means to incur severe troubles.

Another important feature is unquestioning obedience to elders, a kind of cult of parents. Moreover, most often the mother enjoys great respect, and not the father - the head of the house. It is to the mother that adult children go for advice, fulfill her requests, although often this can entail a change not only in status (marriage), but also a change in their whole life. For example, many Indian students came to Moscow to study only because their parents decided so. And the choice of faculty is also their decision. Ivanov I.I. Hindus. - St. Petersburg, 1980. - p. 102-104.

Indians tend to be clean and tidy. But they express it in forms that are rather strange for a Russian person. For example, the clothes of an Indian are always spotlessly clean, and the Indian also monitors the cleanliness of the body, observing hygiene. However, he can eat unwashed fruits. Live in a room where there is a mess, but at the same time he always knows where and what he has. Russians about India: through the eyes of friends. - M., 1957. - p. 69.

Another amazing feature of the Indians is their attachment to their homeland. All Indians are patriots of their country. An Indian born in Moscow says with full confidence that he is only a guest here, a stranger, and his native city is, for example, Delhi. Where could his ancestors have moved to Moscow sixty years ago.

Indians, surrounded by the customs and traditions of another ethnic group, are especially zealous in following their own. They are absolutely immune to the spiritual achievements of other peoples, they are not inclined to succumb to the influence of other cultures. Therefore, the national level of Indian self-consciousness is at a fairly high level. On the contrary, getting into a foreign country, city, Indians, without imposing their own rules, very soon gather around them a large number of people who want to adopt their culture.

But not accepting the customs of other cultures by Indians cannot be considered indifference. On the contrary, Indians are naturally curious. But their curiosity is more of a cognitive, educational and scientific nature. They love, as they say, to get to the bottom of the matter, to disassemble, analyze the subject of study and understand it. Only after that they form their opinion on a particular subject. Snesarev A.E. India as the main factor in the Central Asian issue. - M., 1937. - p. 120.

Indians also have a strong sense of duty. If an Indian has given a word, he will definitely fulfill it, even to the detriment of himself.

However, the attitude of Indians to their vices is of interest. Having committed an offense, the Indian will not be slow to confess and repent of his sin. He will cry, wring his hands, arrange real performances. But the very next Indian may again fall for the same sin (for example, deceit). And it will start all over again. Possessing stamina and strong will in connection with big plans and aspirations, in small things the Indian behaves like a spoiled child.

The attitude of the Indian towards lies is also amusing. Lying is one of the most terrible crimes in the concept of Indians. But, like all business people, Indians cannot do without it. And here they found such a trick. Indians will never lie, they will not deceive, but they can either tell the so-called "almost the truth" or not tell the truth at all. For example, to the question “Is the product of good quality to you?”, the Indian can answer: “It was made in the best factory!”. Well, the goods really could have been made at the best factory, but the question of quality remained open.

Indians are well aware that Europeans are far from their customs, and do not seek to "load" other nations with explanations about their traditions.

For the most part, Indians are cheerful and gambling people. They have a great, upbeat sense of humor. For example, at the end of a conversation about the Indian character, I want to cite a funny story told to me by an Indian living in Moscow: when a Muscovite came to the Krishna temple in Moscow, who wanted to change his faith and become a Hare Krishna, the Indian who was talking to him said that for this one will have to pass the test of iron and fire. The frightened young man quickly retreated from the temple, and the Indian meant only that the visitor would have to light a special candle in the temple and hold in his hands a sacred bowl made of iron.

But before moving on to describing the life of Indians in the capital, it is necessary to touch on two rather important everyday topics - the clothes of modern Indians, as well as their food.

At home, Indians still often wear traditional clothes, especially women. Indian women's traditional clothing is a sari, choli blouse, shalwar kameez, orchna, kameez ghagra. Men's costume, especially in the 20th century, has undergone great changes since the "veil". Now Indians wear: churidar, achkan, dhoti, kurta, chadar, pajama, turban and cap (Gandhi-topi). Ultsiferov O.G. India: Linguistic Dictionary. - M.: Russian language - Media, 2003. - p. 349. However, in the conditions of such a large metropolis as Moscow, and our climate, such garments are impossible. In Moscow, the Indians remained true to the simplicity and modesty of their attire. Men wear strict dark suits, buttoned jackets with turtleneck collars, the so-called beatles, but in India they have a different name - gandhi, in honor of the suits that Mahatma Gandhi liked to wear. Indian students in Moscow dress more democratically. In this sense, they are no different from other students, they also follow fashion as much as possible. They wear jeans and T-shirts. For Indian women, the requirements are less liberal. Under no circumstances can she wear a short skirt - this is unacceptable. An Indian adult woman in Moscow wears a formal business suit, often a pantsuit. Or wear a long skirt with a sweater or T-shirt. Moreover, the requirements for the top of the outfit are less strict than for the bottom. Indian students also wear long skirts, sometimes they can be seen in wide trousers. But, if the weather permits, an Indian woman will definitely wear a sari. Abdulaeva M. Women of India. - M.: Soviet artist, 1976. - p. 136.

Indian food consists of plant elements. They don't eat meat at all. It used to be a big problem for them to find truly vegetarian products in Moscow, but now everything has changed. There are many shops specializing in vegetarian products in Moscow, restaurants for vegetarians have opened. Traditionally, Indians eat twice a day.

Indians love to eat rice, beans, milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables. They eat very spicy food, generously seasoned with red pepper and other spices, because it was the Indians who gave the world a curry recipe that they themselves can eat in unlimited quantities. It is difficult for a person who is not prepared for such food to eat Indian dishes - they are so spicy. For dessert, Indians often cook amazingly delicious cakes - muto kondo, as well as pancakes - kal batashi, which taste like our Tula gingerbread. Indians do not drink alcohol and do not smoke tobacco. In general, they have a healthy lifestyle.

So, from the questions of clothing and food, you can move on to the questions of the occupations of the Indians in Moscow. In particular, their work, leisure, and how they satisfy their religious needs.

• Pooja Ganatra (24) was born in Mumbai to a typical Indian family, but looks like the “ugly duckling” with blond hair, freckles and white skin among her dark-haired and dark-skinned relatives
• As a child, she was repeatedly sent for a medical examination with a suspected skin disease.
• In her own country, a girl feels like a foreigner
• Strangers are often confused when she speaks Hindi

The white-skinned girl Pooja Ganatra was born in an ordinary Indian family in Mumbai. Her appearance is absolutely typical for Scotland, but in her hometown she endured the ridicule of others who mistake freckles for a skin disease. How many times in her teens she tried to bring her appearance to the “unattainable” standards of Indian beauty for her!

In the country of her birth, Pooja lives like a foreigner: locals ask to be photographed with her, taxi drivers start a conversation in English, merchants try to sell goods at tourist prices and fall into shock when they hear her haggling with them in Hindi.

How to explain her unusual appearance? Perhaps this is a kind of evolutionary shift, an atavism that lay dormant in the genes of her parents for many years and manifested itself at the birth of Punja?

Ganathra dreams of a DNA test to finally know her genetic history.

Pooja Ganatra, 24 years old in traditional Indian dress. Born in Mumbai with red hair, emerald eyes and white freckled skin - a typical Scottish appearance.

Relatives feared that Pooja's freckles were a strange congenital skin disease. Mom Hemaxi (46) and dad Rajesh (51) have no explanation for their daughter's mysterious appearance.

The enterprising Pooja has her own clothing factory. A young businesswoman says: “When I was born, my family looked at me like a curiosity, because they all have dark brown eyes, black hair and dark skin, like most Indians.

When freckles began to appear on my skin at the age of 3, my parents took me to the doctors, fearing that this was a serious disease. They've never seen anything like it! At school, I also got a lot of ridicule because of my unusual appearance.

Strangers came up and asked, “What are those spots on your face?” What could I say to them?

Even in my first year of university, I had special requirements. I was not allowed, like everyone else, to wear short sleeves, because my fair skin attracted too much attention.”

Calm down, I'm Indian too

“Indians love to be photographed with foreigners with unusual looks.

Locals asked me to take pictures hundreds of times. I had to tell them, “Relax, I’m Indian too.” The funniest thing is when museums try to sell her a ticket at tourist prices, and Pooja has to show documents.

“Even when I was traveling to America, the border guard double checked my passport and asked if I was really from India?”

Parents immediately took their daughter to see the doctors when freckles appeared on her skin at the age of 3.

Ganathra suggests that her white-skinned appearance as a foreigner in India is a manifestation of her ancestral genes.

No brother or sister

After the birth of Punji, the parents decided not to have any more children, fearing that their daughter had a serious illness and they would have to spend a lot of money on her treatment in the future.

The girl's father Rajesh (51) is a typical Indian man with dark skin. Mama Hemaxi (46) has slightly lighter skin than most of the local women and has a few freckles on her skin. True, not on the face.

But for the whole family, the daughter's appearance is a big mystery.

The legacy of ancestors?

Knowing that India was once a colony of several countries and ruled by Great Britain for 100 long years, it is possible that Ganathra's appearance showed British genes.

Perhaps the reason for the unusual appearance was a “genetic leap into the past”?

A foreigner in her native country.

As a teenager, Punja tried very hard to look “like everyone else”

“When I was born, the family was very concerned about my appearance, they had never seen anything like it”

Mother Hemaxi differs from most Indian women with slightly lighter skin.

“My grandmother died when I was very young. I would love to ask her about my ancestors!

In India, women are obsessed with clean skin, there should not be a single pimple on the face. My freckles were perceived as a big flaw and ugliness.”

Freckles under the Mumbai sun

Punja continued her life story: “Freckles get brighter in the sun. In hot Mumbai, they appeared more and more. What creams I have not tried to fight them, but nothing helped.

I was offered laser therapy and cosmetic surgery to remove my freckles. But as I grew older, I decided to give up all “treatment.”

After the birth of their daughter, Ganatra's family decided not to have any more children. They considered that white skin was a sign of a serious illness and expensive treatment would be needed.

Punji's appearance is a big mystery to the Ganatra family.

Natural beauty is amazing!

“One day I got tired of all the advice to hide freckles under powder and I gave up trying to change myself.

The natural beauty of a woman is magnificent. I am no longer confused by the puzzled looks of others and what they think of me. I love and respect myself and dress the way I like, and onlookers I send my most supportive smile.”

With mother Hemaxi.

Once she was worried that she would never find a groom because of her “ugly” appearance.

In her native India, she felt like an “ugly duckling” until she traveled to Europe and America. There, Punja saw a lot of people who looked just like herself and for the first time felt “normal” (picture with a former school friend).

Have you ever watched Indian cinema? Naive, noisy, colorful, often terribly implausible and sometimes absurd. The plots of Indian films are built on simple everyday stories of love, betrayal, hatred and revenge. Separated in infancy and then reunited, twins, brothers, sisters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and wives and husbands. By the will of the villainess-fate, the main characters suffer unspeakably, fall into various dangerous alterations or are carried by different castes, which is quite serious for India if they decide to get married in the story. Indian films are long, very long - 2.5-3 hours - and are basically tear-squeezing melodramas with a sea of ​​emotions, which is greatly helped by the frequent alternation of fantastically improbable scuffles with mass dances of Indian folk song and dance ensembles.

Yes, the fights in Indian cinema are really fabulously implausible, with a soundtrack characteristic only for this movie and a sea of ​​crimson paint as blood. And dances, a lot of collective dances in bright, colorful national costumes to unpretentious energetic songs a la akyn - I sing what I see. In general, most Indian films can be safely attributed to the category of musicals, which often make the entire auditorium dance. Indian films are surprisingly chaste. No explicit love scenes, naked bodies, even partially. The only thing that Indian directors have thought of, keeping up with modern times, is to shoot actresses in a wet sari. It seems the woman is dressed, but everything seems to be visible.

All Indian films have a happy ending, and this is the secret of their continued and enormous popularity among the common people, whose daily life is very hard. The protagonist must defeat evil, justice triumphs, all villains are punished. The people need a story, be it about elephants and maharajas, gurus and avatars, Indian commandos or zit and git; and the Indian cinematographic machine produces them commercially. Only Bollywood (film studios in Bombay (now Mumbai), in northern India, releases up to 900 films a year (for comparison: in Hollywood they are released on average about 500). The treasury is replenished with 10% of the rental of films for an audience of three billion. Every day, movies in India are watched about 15 million people.Ordinary Indians bring their copper coins to cinemas in order to sleep out of hard reality for 2-3 hours and live in the kingdom of dreams, where everything always ends with a happy ending, not at all like in ordinary life, in which they live in the wildest poverty, horrendous unsanitary conditions, ignorance, disease and the complete arbitrariness of authorities of all kinds.The power of Indian cinema is so great that the premiere of the film "Slumdog Millionaire" significantly reduced the intensity of riots in 2008.

However, Indian films attracted our interest not because of this, but because the appearance of the actors, in the extreme case, the leading actors, which turned out to be, let's say, not quite Indian by generally accepted standards. It would seem that on the screens one should expect black-haired, black-eyed and dark-skinned, in extreme cases, very swarthy actors. In fact, everything turned out not quite so. Of course, the above "gypsy" type is common, but more and more in the crowd. The main characters are played, for the most part, by people of a completely different type. Light, almost white skin, eyes - green, gray, blue or light brown, Caucasoid features. Hair - yes, dark, but not raven. To see this, just look at the photos of Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai. (Aishwarya Rai), Madhuri Dixit (Madhuri Dixit), Nehi Sharma (Nneha Sharma), Kareena Kapoor (Kareena Kapoor), Selina Jaitly (Celina Jaitly).

In addition to the Bollywood film studios in the north of India, there are many more film studios in the south of the country. There are even more of them, and they are combined into several companies based on language. All languages ​​spoken in South India belong to the family Dravidian languages, of which there are 85 . There is Tollywood (Telugu), Kollywood (Tamil) and Mollywood (Malayalam). Surprisingly, many southern leading actresses also have a Caucasian appearance. Photographed by Vidisha Srivastava (Vidisha Srivastava), Sneha Ullal (Sneha Ullal), Iliana de Cruz (Ileana D'Cruz), Sneha (Sneha), Asmita Sood (Asmitha Sood).

Among the popular actors, there are also many white-skinned and light-eyed men. Among them is the patriarch of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor. (Raj Kapoor), Hrithik Roshan (Hrithik Roshan), Nakul Mehta (Nakul Mehta), Shah Rukh Khan (Shahrukh Khan), Sidhanat Kapoor (Siddhanth Kapoor).

This does not mean that there are no very dark-skinned and black-eyed actors in the Indian film industry. There is, and in abundance, take at least Mithun Charaborty (Mithun Chakraborti) or Amitabh Bachchan (Amitabh Bachchan) whose son the beautiful Aishwarya Rai married. However, light skin and eyes are more preferable. Now Indians in general and actors are in great demand whitening creams. They want to get by all means strong fairness your skin.

There is another interesting fact. All actors, more or less famous, belong to the two highest varnas (castes) of India - brahmins and kshatriyas. For example, the Kapoor clan are Kshatriyas, as are the Singh clan, as well as the Khans. Descendants of Rabindranath Tagore, who chose the film industry - from the Brahmins, popular actresses Hema Malini (Hema Malini) and Madhuri Dixit (Madhuri Dixit)- too, but actor Nakul Mehta (Nakul Mehta) from the royal family of Rajasthan (this is the northwest of India). Interesting, isn't it? The aristocrats of India took up, it would seem, not their business - the entertainment of the plebs. But the whole point is that the cinema art of India has its roots in the folk theater, and Brahma commanded the Brahmins so that theatrical performances are performed in order to instruct the common people on the true path.

Let's see why there are so many white-skinned and light-eyed people in the highest Indian varnas (castes)? What do we know about the population of India? What is her, so to speak, anthropological portrait? Scientists suggest that more than 200 peoples currently live in India. The largest of them are about 20, several tens of millions of people each, which make up 80% of the total population of India (over 1.21 billion people), which can be roughly divided into two large groups. The so-called Indo-Europeans, who occupy the northern, western and partly eastern regions of the country. These are Punjabis, Rajasthani, Marathas, Bengalis and others, and Dravidian peoples who inhabit southern India - Tamils, Telugu, Kannara, Malayali and others. Anthropologically they are very different. The former are mainly Caucasoid in appearance, the latter are Negro-Australoid.

Relatively recently, an extensive genetic study was carried out in India, which was published in the American journal Nature in September 2009 . The genetic material was collected in such a way that the 13 states of India, all six language groups, as well as various castes and tribal groups were represented. This study showed that all Hindus are descended from two ancient groups of ancestors, which are significantly different from each other. The authors called them North Indian ancestors (Ancestral North Indians) and south Indian ancestors (Ancestral South Indians). In order to understand why there was such a clear genetic division into north and south, you need to delve into the ancient history of earthly civilization and remember how four different races ended up on planet Earth. Academician Nikolai Levashov writes about this in great detail in the first volume of his fundamental work on the history of our planet "Russia in Crooked Mirrors".

Approximately 40 thousand years ago, after the great Galactic War, the civilization of the White race, which lived on Earth for more than half a million years, accepted refugees of the black, red and yellow races from many planets and constellations of the galaxy and settled them on Earth in climatic zones, the conditions of which were most consistent with those that were on their home planets. Refugees of the yellow race were settled on the territory of modern China, which is south of the "Chinese" wall. The red race was allocated islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a small part of the North American continent.

The black race was the most numerous, and therefore the area of ​​​​its residence on Earth turned out to be the largest, compared with the yellow and red races. Moreover, it was very heterogeneous, both in terms of its composition and level of development, since it consisted of representatives of very different civilizations. It was placed on the African continent, the Hindustan Peninsula and in Southeast Asia. By the way, much later, the black race also mastered Europe south of the Alps. But we are now interested in India, or Dravidia, as our ancestors called it, by the name of the most numerous people who inhabited it. In addition, Dravidia included not only the territory of modern India, but also Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The figure shows the location on the modern world map of the biblical country of the Land of Havila. As it was possible to establish from existing sources, this biblical country was located in the northeast of modern India, in the lower reaches of the biblical river Pison, the modern name of which is the river Ganges. The Ganges River among the descendants of the Dravidians and Nagas is still a sacred river today. Even the water from this river is considered sacred by modern Hindus (Illustration from N. Levashov's book "Russia in Crooked Mirrors".)

To eradicate this anti-human practice, the White Magicians organized two trips to Dravidia from Belovodye. The first Aryan campaign took place about 5 thousand years ago, in 2692 BC. Black magicians and priestesses of Kali Ma were expelled, some knowledge was transferred to the Dravidians and Nagas, and as a result of a genetic experiment, a gray subrace appeared in India as a result of genetic correction - the crossing of the genetics of the white and black races. Thus, the White Magi tried to "get rid" of the habit of worshiping the Black Forces, which was entrenched in the genetics of the black race over thousands of years of cultivation. After staying in Dravidia for 77 years, the White Magi left her, returning home. And that was a mistake. The black magicians returned and did not allow the genetic experiment that the White Magi began to complete in a natural way. The peoples of Dravidia again returned to the worship of the Black Mother and human sacrifice. Therefore, the White Magi had to intervene again. In 2006 BC , almost 700 years after the first campaign, took place second Aryan campaign. The Black Mages and the priestesses of the Black Mother were again defeated and driven out. Part of the Slavs who came remained in Dravidia forever. They became the founders of Indian civilization.

It was after the second Aryan campaign that the Indians got Sanskrit, the so-called Indian Vedas, which are actually modified Sacred Texts of the Wisdom of the Lights, which the Aryans from Belovodie brought to them, at the same time they learned about the laws of karma, reincarnation and others.

So they say about this event "Slavic-Aryan Vedas" in the Fourth Book "The Source of Life", the Third Message.

At the same time, Hinduism appeared in Dravidia, which has as its source the Vedic worldview of the Slavic-Aryans, however, very, very changed by the Hindus over 4 thousand years, due to their specific understanding of the subject. Although they do not widely say where they got all this knowledge from, something can still be unearthed in their myths and legends. In particular, there is a mention that it was the White Teachers, whom the Hindus called Rishi, who came from the north and brought them the Vedas.

In the book of the Indologist Guseva N.R. (1914-2010) “Legends and myths of ancient India. Mahabharata. Ramayana" there is a legend called "Son of six mothers". Here's how it starts:

« In the land of distant northern mountains and the milky ocean lived seven prophets-rishis, the creators of the holy hymns of the Vedas, in which the greatest knowledge and ancient wisdom were preserved. They were highly revered by gods and people. So high that the life of these rishis should not have ended on earth, and when the limit of their path came, they, along with their pure spouses, were ascended to the vault of heaven. Since then, a bright constellation has been shining in the sky, to which people have given two names - “Seven Rishis” and "Great Bear". This marvelous constellation shines brighter than all other stars and planets in the darkness of the northern skies and shows mortals their paths on earth and water ... "

That is, the Hindus recognize that Wisdom and Knowledge they received from northern Masters. The famous Indian scientist B.G. Tilak (1856-1920) argued, analyzing the most ancient monuments of literature, the Vedas and Avesta, that the ancestral home of the Aryans existed in the Arctic region. By the way, he came from the Brahmin caste. And it should be noted that the Aryans brought the caste system of society to ancient India. It consisted of 4 large groups. Brahmins, kshatriyas, vashyas and sudras. The first two constitute the upper castes of Indian society, and in them traits of the white race- light, almost white skin, Caucasoid features, tall. Genetic studies show that at present, from 70 to 72% of representatives of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas have the haplogroup R1a, which was called "Aryan". And this is not surprising, since they were originally compiled by people of the white race who came from the north. The ancient Indian epic Mahabharata even preserved a few lines about their distant ancestral home:

“That country rises above evil, and therefore it is called Ascended! It is believed that it is in the middle between east and west... This is the road of the ascended Golden Dipper... A cruel, insensitive and lawless person does not live in this vast northern region... There is an ant and a wonderful tree of the gods... Here the Pole Star was strengthened by the Great The ancestor... The Northern Territory is reputed to be "ascended", for it rises in all respects ... "(S.V. Zharnikova "Golden Thread").

At present, there are approximately 100 million Brahmins in India. It is believed that in translation from the Harian, brahman means "a person who owns the Shining Power of the Gods" ...

Brahmins were originally supposed to be engaged in the study and teaching of the Vedas, performing various rituals for the “twice-born” (the term used in Hinduism to refer to members of the three highest castes (varnas) (Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas), who passed the rite of initiation into the study at the age of 8-12 years. Vedas), that is, to perform priestly functions, and accept gifts from them. They should be engaged exclusively in mental labor and in no case physical. They were allowed to hold various government posts. In the past, the Brahmins were rajas, commanders, even later - landowners, and then even shopkeepers and usurers.

At present, the caste (varna) of the Brahmins has hundreds within itself, so to speak, a podcast or jati, which means "origin, belonging by birth." There are more than 800 of them, and they differ from each other in language, philosophical direction (in Hinduism there are 4 main directions - Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism and Shaktism, which are divided into numerous theological traditions), place of residence or type of activity.

By tradition, each Brahmin jati (podcast) is engaged in a certain type of activity and only it. For example, some brahmins are called for various rituals, of which there are hundreds in India - marriages, pregnancy, childbirth, funeral ceremonies, etc. They also turn to brahmins if they have a bad dream or need to remove the evil eye, if a snake has bitten, if by mistake or, out of necessity, food considered unclean was taken when business is not going well, on days of solar and lunar eclipses, etc. At the same time, the brahmins specialize in only one ritual.

The most respected and most status professional specialization of a Brahmin is knowledge of brahminical sciences-shastras. These brahmins do not perform rituals for people and do it only for themselves and their families. Pandits and gurus who only teach brahmins constitute the highest class of teachers. Brahminical shastras are grammar, rhetoric, poetry, logic, philosophy, as well as the obligatory knowledge of the texts of the classical ancient Indian shastras (Skt. “call, hymn”). For example, dharmashastra (sankr. "instruction in dharma") are ancient Indian texts that set out religious rules of conduct, as well as ancient laws. That is, a high-ranking brahmana must know the Vedas by heart, especially those that are necessary for the Brahmin to perform the ritual in which he is engaged. In addition, a brahmin can memorize one of the four Vedas in its entirety - the Rigveda - "Veda of hymns", Yajurveda - "Veda of sacrificial formulas", Samaveda - "Veda of chants", Atharvaveda - "Veda of spells". Memorizing the Veda takes about eight years. It is noteworthy that the names of the Brahmins such as Dube, Tivari, Chaube are derived from the Sanskrit names Dvi Vedi, Tri Vedi, Chatur Vedi, which mean that the ancestor of the Brahmin family once knew two, three, four Vedas by heart.

By the surnames of India, it is easy to determine whether a person belongs to a varna (caste). For example, the surnames Bhattacharya, Dikshit, Gupta testify to belonging to the caste of higher brahmins. People with the surname Singh belong to either the Rajput military caste or the Sikh religion. The surname Gandhi means that a person from the trading caste of Gujarat, the surname Reddy is common among the agricultural caste from Andhra.

Next to the brahmins who teach the shastras are the temple priests, then the priests, who conduct rituals for and only for individual families, and their status is determined by the status of the family they serve. Brahmins can also make a living by publicly reciting and commenting on mythological and epic Vedic texts. Those brahmins who have succeeded in this and earned a proper reputation are invited to noble families for festivals to show their art.

The rules for purity are different for each Brahmin jati (podcast). In Bengal, for example, there are brahmins who eat fish (usually brahmins are vegetarians). There are brahmins who do not perform rituals, do not collect or distribute donations, but are landowners and are quite prosperous, and some brahmins live only on alms and are poor, "like a church mouse." At present, most of the Brahmin jati (podcast) are non-priestly, that is, worldly, not engaged in the administration of any rituals and, in truth, I have a very distant relation to real brahmins. However, any, even the most dubious village "brahmin" has the status of a personal and legal immunity, although the Indian government legally equated the Brahmins with the rest of the varnas (castes), both in the criminal and in the administrative field. Moreover, recently the Brahmins have been subjected to so-called positive discrimination, when the government of India decided to give more preferences to people from the untouchable caste, who initially could not even qualify to use the services of the Brahmins when receiving a secular education, entering the state. service, participation in elected bodies of power, etc.

In general, the varna of the Brahmins in India is numerous, diverse, and, like the numerous representatives of many other religions who “nourish” the common people, does not work productively, but only uses the initial knowledge of white people given to them. However, they prefer not to talk about this fact, but to fool their “spirituality” and antiquity to the descendants of these people. And this despite the fact that the highest layer of the Brahmins descends from the Aryans, and to this day retains their racial features, albeit fairly diluted by the Dravidians.

Hindus and a few European researchers are well aware that, for example, representatives of the Brahmin jati (podcast) chitpawan (Chitpavan), who come from the Konkan coast, are famous for the fact that they “look the most light-skinned, and some of them have gray eyes ...” (Uspenskaya E.N. “Anthropology of the Indian caste”). This was written by a British anthropologist who worked in the colonial administration, D.G. Hatton (John Henry Hutton(1885-1968)) in his book on the caste system in India (Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins. Cambridge, 1946.). Or, for example, the Brahmins jati Deshasta (Deshastha Brahmins), which originate from the west of India, are even attributed to Scytho-Dravidian type. This, in particular, was stated in 1901 by Sir Herbert H. Reisley (Herbert Hope Risley (1851-1911)), a British ethnologist and also served in the colonial administration.

A well-known representative of this type is Raja Tanhor Madhadva Rao (T. Madhava Rao (1828-1891)), a descendant of the Deshasta Brahmins, a prominent administrative and political figure. He has worked as chief of staff in Travancore, a princely state in southwestern India, the cities of Indore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and Baroda in the western state of Gujarat. By the way, the addition of Rao to the Brahmin name indicates that its bearer belongs to a princely family and comes from Raj (Raja). Also variants of princely origin are Indian surnames Rai, Raja, Rayudu, Rayar, Rayulu, Raut, Raya, Rana. It is impossible not to notice that they all carry the root " Ra".

By the way, the head of the administration and a descendant of the Brahmins wears an earring in the left ear. We know who in the Slavic-Aryan hierarchy also wore earrings - ancient Russian knights and then the Cossacks-warriors. They say that an earring in the left ear of a Cossack meant that he was the only son of his mother, an earring in the right - the last man in the family or the only son of his parents. In both ears - the last in the family, the breadwinner and successor of the family. According to the Cossack tradition, the ataman or captain was obliged to protect such a special person. During the war, for example, they did not have the right to expose him to mortal risk, they did not send him to certain death in the inferno. The Kiev prince Svyatoslav also wore an earring, as the Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, who saw him, wrote: “He had a golden earring in one ear; it was adorned with a carbuncle framed by two pearls". It is not known whether the earring in the Brahmin ear means the same or not, but the fact is there. Besides, Indian Brahmins they use another external sign that we are accustomed to refer only to the Cossacks. This is a hairstyle that we call a sedentary, and they have a shikha.

In pictures and postcards, Brahmins are depicted with her. And even the god Krishna is depicted with such a hairstyle, and she is also on the canonical image of the famous hero of the Cossack knight Mamai. As for the Indian Brahmins, there are two ceremonies during which a person's head is shaved, while leaving a tuft of hair on the back of the head or crown, which is called shikha - chudakarana and upanayana.

The first is associated with the first haircut of the child, which is performed at the age of 3, and the second - the ritual haircut occurs when the boy is ordained as a disciple of a brahmin (brahmacharya). It is also necessary to have a sedentary shikha for any kind of sacrifice. Its shape and size may vary, depending on belonging to a particular tradition. If the shikha is very long, then it is tied in a knot so that it does not interfere. In the previously considered portrait of Raja Madhav Rao, she peeks out, tied in white, from under a white headdress ...

But not only jewelry and hairstyles remained with the Indian brahmins in memory of the distant northern people who brought them the Wisdom of Radiance. It is known that the highest Brahmin jati (podcasts) to this day observe the custom of writing marriage contracts on birch bark. Moreover, back in the 18th century, a marriage not recorded on birch bark was considered invalid. During the marriage ceremony, the young are fumigated, or simply blessed with a birch twig. And there would be nothing surprising in this, only the birch is not a common tree in India, but grows only high in the mountains. And in order to pick these branches and gather birch bark, the brahmins must climb to a height of 3-3.5 thousand meters, where the Himalayan birch or the Jacquemont birch grows. Not only Brahmin marriage contracts were written on birch bark, but also the texts of the Rig Veda and other sacred Hindu, and later Buddhist texts, sacred mantras that are worn for blessing and protection in amulets, etc.

Birch in India, especially in North India and the Himalayas, is considered a sacred tree. In the temples located in these places, it is used to perform various rituals. The famous Indologist N.R. Guseva in her book “Slavs and Aryas. The path of the gods and words" notes that "the oldest word in Sanskrit, meaning tree, literally translates as birch".

It is well known that among the Slavs the birch was also one of the revered trees, so even one of the Slavic months is called "birch". It was a protective tree - birch branches were used to block the path of evil spirits into the dwelling. Birch branches were stuck into the field to get a good harvest of flax and cereals. A birch log was buried under the threshold of a new stable, "so that the horses were led." The girls used birch in their rites for the Trinity. And the healing properties of birch have been known to the Slavs since time immemorial. Birch sap was used to purify the blood, and birch brooms were steamed in the bath. It was believed that the birch scent cured melancholy and helped against the evil eye, and birch bark was widely used for writing. And hundreds more birch bark manuscripts, which date back to the 1st millennium BC, were found in Central and Central Asia, where the arias left their mark.

Let us return to the Brahmin wedding ceremony, which in Hinduism is called vivaha and which has remained virtually unchanged for 5 thousand years. One of his 16 rituals (sanskar), each of which is accompanied by the recitation of the corresponding hymns of the Rig Veda, is the showing of the star Dhruva (Polar Star) and the Sapta rishi-mandala (constellation of the Seven Rishis or Ursa Major) to the bride by the groom. He addresses her with these words: “You are unchanging, I see you, O unchanging one. Be unchanging with me, prosperous. Brihaspati has given you to Me, your husband, live with me for a hundred autumns!” Then he must ask her if she sees her, and the bride must answer: “I see,” even if she does not see. The thing is that the North Star in India is far from always visible. It is too low above the horizon in India, only 1-1.5 degrees. However, the one who composed this ancient rite clearly saw another sky in which the unchanging (fixed) North Star was clearly visible. And this is possible only in the Northern Hemisphere, not far from the Arctic Circle.

In addition, the Indian Vedic wedding ceremony includes elements of wedding ceremonies that were practiced in the Russian North quite recently, in the beginning and middle of the 20th century. This is described in great detail in the book by C.V. Zharnikova "The Golden Thread" (ch. 3. The thread of time. Rites and holidays).

For example, in the Indian Vedic ceremony, the bride is placed on the skin of a red bull with the hair up. It was believed that the skin contributes to the fertility of a woman, and in the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions during the wedding, the bride and groom were put on a bench on a fur coat with fur outside. In Russia, a girl was untwisted a girl's braid and braided two, as a transition from girlhood to marriage, and in India, a girl was untwisted pigtails for the same reason. As in Rus', young people were showered with hops and cereals, so in India. In the Russian North, the newlywed had to sweep the straw scattered on the floor, and in India, the wedding ceremony also included sacrificial straw on the floor. As in the wedding ritual of Russia it was customary to make obscene jokes about its participants, so in India it was believed that such jokes cause laughter that promotes fertility. Both in India and in Russia, a boy was placed on the lap of the newlywed, so that the young would be the first to have a son.

“... in the Russian folklore tradition, the groom-husband is called, as a rule, a “clear fellow”, and the bride-wife is called a “red sun”. In the wedding hymn of the Rig Veda, the bride is also called the sun (Surya) and the groom the moon (Soma). It is well known that in a Russian wedding the groom is the "young prince" and the bride is the "young princess". In the ancient Indian wedding ritual, the groom has all the attributes of a kshatriya king (i.e., a warrior), and the bride is called “mistress” and “queen”. In Russian, and especially in the Northern Russian wedding tradition, there is a rite of pre-wedding bath for the bride and groom, developed and semantized to the limit. In the ancient Indian wedding ritual, it was supposed that "the bride and groom bathe before the marriage ceremonies" ... "

Both in Russian wedding tradition and in Indian flowers

How in In Russia and in India protective ornaments played a huge role in the wedding ceremony. In Russia, they decorated not only the wedding suits of the bride and groom, but also towels that were hung along the walls, as well as a linen tablecloth, on which the bride and groom stood for parental blessing. In India, protective ornaments (rangoli) were applied to the floors, walls of the house, the space in front of the entrance, as well as on the palm of the bride and sometimes on her face.

At the same time, both in India and in Rus',

Since we are talking about the swastika, it would be appropriate to note here that this solar symbol in its various images - about six, four, three rays - is widely used by Indians not only in festive or religious rituals, but wherever possible. Indians literally wear this sign of prosperity and good luck. They embroider it on blankets, on saris, on stoles and shawls in the north of India in Bengal, Rajasthan, in the east - in Orissa, in the center - the state of Maharashtra, where the largest city of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is located.

However, the connection of folk Indian embroidery with the cultural tradition of the Slavic-Aryans is not limited to swastikas. In archaic Indian ornaments, there are many elements that are traditionally considered elements Russian folk embroidery, especially for ornaments that were embroidered by craftswomen in the Russian North. This is also a symbol of fertility - a sown field - a rhombus with dots with crosses at the ends, which distribute benefits to four sides. This is the world tree, which unites all spheres of the universe, and the eight-pointed star, which the Slavs call the star Alatyr or the cross of Svarog.

On Indian embroideries you can find Slavic Mother Goddess Makosh with raised hands and women in labor - the patroness of childbirth and pregnant women, who, together with Makosh, determine the fate of people and gods. Here is how the Goddess is sung in the Rigveda with the horses accompanying her: “From one, two on the bird-horses of wanderers, two wander together.” There you can also see fabulous firebirds - peacocks, the prophetic bird Gamayun, which in India is called Garuda, double-headed eagle and even reindeer. And in Bengal they even embroidered ornaments surprisingly similar to the Kargopol menologion.

Moreover, in some cases, even the embroidery technique is the same, in connection with which very curious cases occur. S.V. told about one of them. Zharnikova in the article "Hyperboreans live behind her":

“Somehow, about 20 years ago, Natalya Romanovna Guseva told me a funny and instructive story. A well-known researcher of traditional Indian embroidery and weaving came to visit her from India. Sitting at a cup of tea, she accidentally glanced at a postcard lying nearby and exclaimed admiringly: “Natasha, what a wonderful postcard they sent you from Gujarat!”. Hearing in response that the postcard has nothing to do with Gujarat and was printed here in Moscow in 1981, the Indian woman was very surprised and indignant. “This cannot be,” she replied, “This is a typical Gujarat embroidery!”. And then she explained very specifically what and why is depicted here. I had to draw the guest's attention to the fact that the postcard had been printed for the day of March 8, as evidenced by the inscription on it, that it was published by the Fine Art publishing house and that there was even an author of the postcard - the artist E. Dergileva. The arguments did not make a strong impression. “So what,” was the response. “Your artist went to visit us in India and made such a postcard.”

As Natalya Romanovna said, the further actions were as follows: “And then I took out all those copiers from the cripples that you, Svetlana, brought to me. She put them on the table. For a long time she considered each drawing of embroidery and weaving, explaining their meaning, in what technique it is done, and for which state of India these compositions are typical. And then she sighed and said: “Natasha, this is just amazing! In two years in India, you found so much material that even I don’t have!” I had to disappoint her, saying that all these drawings had nothing to do with India, but were made in the funds of the museums of the Russian North, as evidenced by the inventory numbers printed on photocopies. “And then,” said Natalya Romanovna, “something happened that we did not expect at all. She began to cry and began to call us Russians, criminals because we do not publish all these materials". Such is the story.

I repeat, it was 1982. Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. But things, often, are still there. Well, how many of us, and Indians too, know that the most complex technique of Olonets embroidery, which includes both a counted cross and darning, and “painting”, and “cutwork”, performed with white threads on a white canvas and is called by us "Chekan", has an analogy in Northwest India, where the exact same embroidery is called "chikan"! Just think! Aryas came to the territory of Hindustan from their northern ancestral home no later than the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. And embroideries from the Olonets province (now the Republic of Karelia) were never exported to India, and they were not brought from India to the Olonets province either. The same complicated embroidery technique, the same name. How old are they? Four thousand, five thousand?.. By the way, that postcard, because of which all the above-described “cheese-boron” happened, was an example of classical Olonets embroidery, which has survived almost to this day. So how old are they?"

It is worth mentioning here that the art of sewing clothes was also brought to the Hindustan Peninsula by the Aryans. The Dravidians, if worn, only unsewn clothes - pieces of cloth that were wrapped around various parts of the body or used in the form of capes and bandages. Most of the time they went half-naked. The obligation to wear clothes was enshrined in arias in various sacred and legislative texts. So, one of the Indian Vedas is the Atharvaveda, which, unlike other Vedas, does not tell about the gods and their deeds, but about the social and everyday life of people, such as the anointing of the king to the kingdom, and about a wedding or funeral, and about building a hut, and treating the sick. It mentions "beautiful, well-made outfits", a woman opening a seam, a wedding shirt and a wedding dress. "Only that Brahmin who knows (the hymn) of Surya is worthy of the wedding shirt." (Book 14, verse 30). And in Manu-smriti or laws of Ma