Last fortnight at Oscars Awards Ceremony eminent actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, an American comedian as the latter ridiculed former’s wife for her bald head. Actress Jada Smith is Will’s wife and she suffers from Alopecia (hair loss).
Hair is a symbol of person’s beauty. Particularly of women. We read and listen words like ‘kali, lambi, ghani bal’ or ‘Yeh reshmi zulfein’ or ‘a princess with golden hair’ in books and songs.
Biologically, hair is any of the fine thread like strands growing from the skin. They are found all over the human body and are known by different names in accordance with their locations. Thus the strands on the head are called hair. The strips of hair grown on the ridges above the eye sockets are called eyebrows. Short hairs growing on edges of eyelids are called eyelashes. A bunch of hair left unshaven on the crown of head is called tuft. A strip of hair left to grow above man’s upper lip is called mustache. A growth of hair on the chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face is called beard. And there are innumerable small, soft, thin hairs all over the human body.
Some persons are recognised by their hairs alone. For instance: grey/brown/blond-haired, curly haired, thick haired, thin haired, long haired, short haired, with moustache with beard and without hairs.
Hair is one of the ordinary and thin parts of the body. But it occupies a unique place in human history and culture. In Mahabharata, wicked Dusshasan dragged Draupadi, wife of five pandavas, by hair into the assembly hall and tried to disrobe her.
At that moment enraged by the insults, Draupadi took the vow that she would never oil or tie her hair until she bathed them with the blood of Dusshasan!
There is one more tale of the hair. In ancient India one of the kings of Nanda dynasty, Dhana Nanda once insulted a poor Brahmin named Chanakya for his ugly appearance during an almsgiving ceremony and ordered him to be thrown out of the assembly. At this juncture, Chanakya took the famous oath, “I will not tie my tuft of hair until I uproot the whole Nanda dynasty.”
Moustache is regarded as a sign of self esteem. There are scores of examples wherein people vowed that they would remove their moustaches if they were defeated over certain issues. In Greek mythology goddess of opportunity is depicted as bald-headed with only one long lock of hair hanging down from her forehead. This suggests that opportunity should be grasped at its first appearance.
There is a custom in Hindu religion of offering hairs to God. Hindus believe that one loses one’s ego after donating hairs. In Jainism the practice undertaken by mendicants of pulling out their head hairs by hand is called ‘Kesh-locha’. It signifies an attitude of indifference to the body and willingness to endure the hardships of a mendicant life. Buddhists believe that hairs stand for illusion and ignorance. So having a shaved head symbolically represent getting rid of these two undesirables.
