Tattoos play an important role in many religions. Tattoos have been used for thousands of years as important tools in ritual and tradition. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been hostile to the use of tattoos, but many religions, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism, make extensive use of them. This article examines their use as tools for protection and devotion.

Lala Lajpat Rai was a prominent figure of the Arya Samaj, influential nineteenth-century Hindu socio-religious reform movement. He is also seen as having sown seeds nationalism in first decade twentieth century. Exploring Rai’s thought between 1880s and 1915, this article traces how felt imperatives nation-building impelled him to regularly re-define Hinduism. These prompted articulate ‘thin’ H...