Origin Of Tattoos In India

In the present day, people get tattoos to make themselves look cooler or stand out from the others. I used to wonder where tattoos originated from and got the answer to it during my recent trip to Meghalaya. I learned that, in the 18th century, the Chinese used to enter India illegally through parts of Nagaland. The girls of North-East India, which includes Nagaland, are very beautiful. The Chinese used to be attracted to Naga girls and indulged in taking them to China forcefully so that they could marry those girls. Naga girls found a way out of this eventually. They started painting their faces and bodies with black ink. The Chinese did not find them beautiful anymore, as a result of which, they stopped trafficking girls from Nagaland to their country. This is the story behind the origin of tattoos in India. It is ironic indeed that something which was initially used to camouflage beauty underneath has become a fashion statement today.