Nynaeve's ki'sain
The ki'sain is a small dot painted on the forehead of Malkieri women to indicate their marital status.[1] A woman who wears the ki'sain is indicating that she has pledged her sons to fight the Shadow.[2]
Nynaeve adopted the custom when she married Lan.[1]
Colors[]
- Blue: unmarried, worn by Iselle Arrel.[3]
- Red: married, worn by Nynaeve al'Meara.[1]
- White: widowed, worn by Edeyn ti Gemallen Arrel.[4] Note that white is generally the color of mourning in the nations of the Wheel of Time.
In death, a Malkieri woman would be marked with all three, one of each color, whether she had ever married or not.[5]
Parallels[]
The Goddess Tara depicted with "third eye" of consciousness represented by the bindi.
The custom is similar to the bindi, meaning "point, drop, dot or small particle") is a coloured dot or, in modern times, a sticker worn on the centre of the forehead, originally by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists from the Indian subcontinent.