Celebrity Sanskrit Tattoos
Let us first take a look at some of the
Celebrity Sanskrit Tattoos and their meanings. David Beckham, the ace soccer player, has the name of his wife
‘Victoria’ written on his arm in Sanskrit script. Some experts, however, believe that it has been misspelled as ‘Vhictoria’. Singer Rihanna has a Sanskrit prayer tattooed on her hip, it has the words ‘forgiveness’,
‘honesty’, and ‘truth’ from the Hindu holy book the ‘Bhagavad Gita‘. Jessica Alba has the
Sanskrit word ‘Padma’ which means lotus,
tattooed on her wrist.
Lotus grows in a muddy pond, but is beautiful and isn’t affected by the muck around it, and hence symbolizes purity of heart in the Hindu culture. Tommy Lee, the Motley Crue drummer, has the religious Hindu syllable ‘Om’
tattooed under his navel. Kimberly Wyatt of
"Pussy Cat Dolls" has a
Sanskrit tattoo on the back of her neck, which says ‘let all the being be happy and let my actions contribute to their happiness’.
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Gillian Anderson has a Sanskrit tattoo on her wrist which translates to ‘Every Day‘.
Alyssa Milano has a wrist tattoo of the
Hindu syllable ‘Om’.Some of the other reasons for the popularity of Sanskrit tattoos are their originality and spirituality. People like to tattoo their favorite quotes from Hinduism and Buddhism to showcase their way of thinking. Words like
‘Shanti’, meaning peace, and
‘Karma’, meaning duty, are used extensively in
tattoos.
Tattoo Culture
Many ancient
cultures used
tattoos to show their affiliation or their devotion, and tattoos were also used to ward off evil spirits in some cultures. Various tribes in Japan, New Zealand and Africa sported facial tattoos. The word
tattoo has originated from the
Polynesian word tatau, and is an
art of inserting indelible ink in the epidermal layer of the skin.
The ancient Indian language of
Sanskrit has been in existence since the second millennium BCE, with the oldest works in the Sanskrit language, the
‘Rigveda’, dating back to late second millennium BCE.
Tattoos have also been around for ages, but it is only recently that tattoos in Sanskrit font are gaining in popularity. People across the globe are using phrases and
symbols from the Sanskrit language to adorn their bodies. Sanskrit tattoos like ‘Om’ have been immensely
popular world wide; the word
‘Om’ in Sanskrit encompasses the entire
universe.
Tattoos have been around since
Neolithic times, and are used as symbols of spirituality and decoration. In different
"cultures tattoos" have different meanings, and while in some they were used to mark slaves and enemies, other cultures used tattoos to mark the rank of warriors and as marks of fertility. The Nazi’s also used number tattoos to mark the prisoners in concentration camps.
Tattoos, with the help of new age technology, are finding their way back into mainstream society. According to a recent survey, 1 in every 17 Americans sport a tattoo. Some of the
popular fonts used in tattooing are English, Chinese and Latin. One of the oldest languages known to man,
Sanskrit is also making it’s mark on the tattoo industry. This has especially been made famous by Hollywood celebrities with their Sanskrit font tattoos.
The placement of the
tattoo depends on the choice of the individual, and sometimes is dictated by the word that is chosen. Some even mix images of Hindu Gods with
'Sanskrit' script to get a wholesome look to their tattoos. ‘Tathastu’, a Hindu phrase meaning ‘so be it’, is also an example of the deep, meaningful content of the Sanskrit language.
Sanskrit tattoos are widely preferred nowadays as the font is exotic and seems to have a connection with the deep rooted spirituality of the
Indian culture.
