Burmese Girl with Thanaka Paste on Her Cheeks

Photo: A Burmese girl with thanaka cosmetic paste applied on her cheeks and a straw hat

This girl wearing a conical straw hat and wearing a coat of thanaka cosmetic paste on her cheeks was seen selling jade necklaces to tourists at Mingun Pahtodawgyi (incomplete stupa in Mingun), northwest of Mandalay in central Myanmar (Burma) in February 2005.

Thanaka is a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from any of the thanaka trees growing in central Myanmar. These are perennial trees, which include Murraya spp (thanaka) and Limonia acidissima (wood apple). They must be at least 35 years old to yield good quality cosmetic paste. Generally, cut logs are sold in the market from which buyers make the paste, or thanaka can be bought as ready-to-apply paste or in powder form.

Thanaka cream can be prepared from the powder of the bark, wood or even roots of a thanaka tree, mixing it with water. It is has a sweet fragrance, and looks like sandalwood paste.

For over 2000 years, Burmese women (and even children) have been using thanaka to apply on their faces (or even the whole body), and now the culture has spread to the neighboring countries such as Thailand.

Apart being a type cosmetic, thanaka imparts a cooling effect and is a good shield against sunburn, and also an antifungal. It is believed to be a cure against skin infections, acne, blackheads and also lightens the skin.

Kandahar Lady of Rank, Engaged in Smoking

Image: from the lithograph on plate 29 of 'Afghaunistan' by Lieutenant James Rattray, 1848, source: British Library

The subject of this portrait, Begum Jan, had been described by James Rattray only by a vague reference as a 'Lady of Rank in Kandahar', giving no further information about her real identity, and leaving much to speculation. As the title indicates, and as the other images of Afghan ladies in the other plates show, the woman is seen with a hookah for smoking tobacco (or sometimes cannabis).

However, Rattray followed it up with unrelated references to historical Afghan ladies such as Wafadar Begum (or, Wafa Begam, the favorite and senior most wife of Shuja Shah Durrani, the ruler of the Durrani Empire), and "the brave widow" of Muhammad Akram Khan (1817-1852), the powerful chief of Zamindawar, a historical region to the south of Kandahar.

According to Rattray, many of these Afghan ladies attained historical status because of their "conjugal attachment and devotion" to powerful rulers and clan leaders. For example, he refers to the "the brave widow" (unnamed) of Akram Khan, who was executed in 1842 after he refused allegiance with Shah Shuja. The bereaved widow threw off her burqa, organised his tribesmen and led them to battle with the forces of Shah Shuja, riding her husband's horse, though she was driven back after a desperate battle.

Woman with long Afro-textured hair

PD Photo: Woman wearing long Afro-textured hair styled in twists; an image of the character Violet Parr of the movie ‘The Incredibles’.

Afro-textured hair (also often referred to as kinky hair, nappy hair, or spiraled hair) is a term referring to the typical texture of Black African hair that has not been altered by hot combs, flat irons or chemicals by perming, relaxing or straightening.