Living in the Western world, it’s easy to take our participation with cosmetics for granted. Whether we use makeup to smooth and conceal, or to express ourselves loudly à la Gaga, we are using it as an accessory, as status, and as a game. But before the commercial cosmetics industry brought so many expressions to market, face paint was a used as a far more potent symbol of identity.
Few people express this tradition as vividly as the Sadhus of …

















