Indigenous tattooing tradition at risk of fading away

Symbols of the past: A file photo showing artist Guddi Manthar (left), drawing an indigenous tattoo on Champa’s face at the Jogi Colony in Umerkot, Pakistan. The practice of elder women needling delicate shapes onto the faces, hands, and arms of younger generations stretches back centuries in the Hindu villages that dot the southern border with India. — AFP

Grinding charcoal with a few drops of goat’s milk, 60-year-old Basran Jogi peers at the faces of two small Pakistani sisters preparing for their first tattoos.

The practice of elder women needling delicate shapes onto the faces, hands, and arms of younger generations stretches back centuries in the Hindu villages that dot the southern border with India.