Traditional tattooing in India
Subject in Visual Arts
Traditional tattooing in India has come up in 1 episode across 1 podcast in TMT, including Seekers of the Eternal. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Swasthik IyengarSouth Indian-born tattoo artist and painter known as Ganga Ma, based in New York
Iyengar said modern Indian street tattooing was heavily influenced by English sailors arriving at the Bombay docks.
“that was heavily, very heavily influenced by Western culture and the bringing about of the English sailors to the Bombay docks”
Seekers of the Eternal: Ep 66 - Swasthik Iyengar - Sacred Tattoos (Jun 30, 2025) · Listen from 10:15
Iyengar described the belief behind her grandmother's kolam tattoos that negative entities or illness become trapped in the exitless design and are expelled.
“any negative entity will go to that point where the tattoo is and trap itself inside the matrix because there's no exit in a column design”
Seekers of the Eternal: Ep 66 - Swasthik Iyengar - Sacred Tattoos (Jun 30, 2025) · Listen from 9:07
PalehorseArtist and host of the Seekers of the Eternal podcast, also referred to as Chris
Palehorse said he had read that nearly every major culture until about 500 years ago had a magical ritual tattoo practice.
“every culture up to maybe just like 500 years ago, every major culture that we know of had a magical ritual tattoo practice”
Seekers of the Eternal: Ep 66 - Swasthik Iyengar - Sacred Tattoos (Jun 30, 2025) · Listen from 12:55
Podcasts
- Seekers of the Eternal · 1 episode
Episodes
Ep 66 - Swasthik Iyengar - Sacred TattoosSeekers of the Eternal · Jun 30, 2025 · 1 h 13 min
Palehorse talks with tattoo artist Swasthik Iyengar (Ganga Ma) about her grandmother's healing kolam tattoos, devotional art, Hindu deities and the spiritual side of tattooing.