A special kind of bodily embellishment, the  
painting  of the  palms of  the  hands  and  
the  soles  of  the  feet  is  largely,  but  not 
exclusively,   confined to  Rajasthan.  This 
form of self-adornment is known as mehndi, 
after the plant from  the   leaves  of  which  
the  red dye  is extracted  for   the purpose. 
Today the art is also  practiced  by middle 
-class  town   women     who,     on     festive  
occasions,  paint    auspicious  symbols on 
their fingers and the palms of their hands. 
Here   we  have     another   example  of  the  
adoption by  modern Indian society of an ancient popular tradition.