Puṇḍra

By Swami Harshananda

Sometimes transliterated as: Pundra, PuNDra, Pundra

Puṇḍra literally means ‘religious mark’.

Popular scriptures like the sectarian Upaniṣads and the purāṇas ordain that every person must wear a puṇḍra or a religious mark on the forehead and also on other parts of the body. This puṇḍra may be tiryakpuṇḍra^[1] like the bhasma or vibhuti or urdhvapuṇḍra like the nāma worn by the Vaiṣṇavas^[2] or even just a tilaka.^[3]

References

↑ Tiryakpuṇḍra is worn crosswise.
↑ They are the followers of the Viṣṇu sects.
↑ Tilaka means circular mark.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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[1] Tiryakpuṇḍra is worn crosswise.

[2] They are the followers of the Viṣṇu sects.

[3] Tilaka means circular mark.

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