Thanakha, also spelled Thanakha (; ), is a paste made from ground bark. It is a distinctive feature of the culture of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, seen commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of women and girls, and is used to a lesser extent also by men and boys.

History

Thanakha is used by Burmese people since mid 11th century.In a Bagan Pagoda,there is a Bagan era wall painting of a Bagan woman wearing thanakha. The earliest literary reference to thanakha is in a 14th-century poem written by King Razadarit's Mon-speaking consort.During King Bayinnaung ,Alungpaya and Bodawpaya's military campaign in Thailand, thanakha was first introduced to Thai people. Mentions of thanaka also exist in the 15th-century literary works of Burmese monk-poet

Shin Raṭṭhasāra Shin Raṭṭhasāra ( my, ရှင်မဟာရဋ္ဌသာရ; 1468-1529 (1530) was a Buddhist monk and prominent classical poet during the Ava Kingdom, known for his ''pyo'' poetry. His 1523 ''Kogan Pyo'' () based on the ''Hatthipāla J ...

(1486-1529).

Source and preparation

The wood of several trees may be used to produce thanaka cream; these trees grow abundantly in central Myanmar. They include principally ''

Murraya ''Murraya'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It is distributed in Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.Limonia acidissima'' (''theethee'' or wood apple). The two most popular are ''

Shwebo Shwebo ( my, ရွှေဘိုမြို့ ) is a city in Sagaing Region, Burma, 110 km north-west of Mandalay between the Irawaddy River, Irrawaddy and the Mu River, Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the Konbaung Dynasty, establi ...

thanaka'' from

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...

and ''Shinmadaung thanaka'' from

Magway Region Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, with an area of . Pa Del Dam (ပဒ� ...

. A more recent contender sold as a paste is

Taunggyi Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth la ...

''Maukme thanaka'' from southern

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( ...

. Thanaka trees are

perennials A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

, and a tree must be at least 35 years old before it is considered mature enough to yield good-quality cuttings. Thanaka in its natural state is sold as small logs individually or in bundles, but nowadays also available as a paste or in powder form. Thanaka cream is made by grinding the bark, wood, or roots of a thanaka tree with a small amount of water on a circular slate slab called ''kyauk pyin'', which has a channel around the rim for the water to drain into.

Application, style and properties

Thanaka cream has been used by Burmese men, women, and children (especially women as make-up) for over 2,000 years. It has a fragrant scent somewhat similar to

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

. The creamy paste is applied to the face in attractive designs, the most common form being a circular patch on each cheek, nose, sometimes made stripey with the fingers known as ''thanaka bè gya'', or patterned in the shape of a leaf, often also highlighting the bridge of the nose with it at the same time. It may be applied from head to toe (''thanaka chi zoun gaung zoun''). Apart from cosmetic beauty, thanaka also gives a cooling sensation and provides protection from

sunburn Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the Sun. Common symptoms in humans and animals include: red or reddish skin that is h ...

. It is believed to help remove acne and promote smooth skin. It is also an anti-fungal. The active ingredients of thanaka are

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by a lactone-like chain , forming a second six-membered h ...

and

marmesin Marmesin (nodakenetin) is a chemical compound precursor in psoralen and linear furanocoumarins biosynthesis Biosynthesis is a multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed process where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. I ...

. Thanaka Bark Thanaka trees can be found all over the place in massive portions in

, The natives of Myanmar do rely on Thanaka as a face mask. Many times used by females all over the face for hair removal. Thanaka powder is obtained after Grinding and turns the bark into a lightweight brown, perfumed paste that's put within the face in giant portions. A study was conducted in 2010 by the

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU, th, จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย, ), nicknamed Chula ( th, จุฬาฯ), is a public and autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally fo ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Thanaka bark is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and absorbs UV rays. The research additionally revealed that Thanaka inhibits tyrosine, the enzyme that triggers melanin synthesis and impacts pores and skin discolouration–therefore, even skin tone. Image:Thanaka_woman.JPG, Market stall keeper wearing thanaka, Mandalay Image:Thanaka_kids.JPG, Market children with thanaka, Mandalay Image:Thanaka_seller.JPG, Thanaka seller at Kaunghmudaw Pagoda, Sagaing File:Karen Girl Wearing Thanaka.JPG, A Karen child with thanaka on her face File:Hindu woman in Myanmar, wearing thanakha.jpg, A Burmese Hindu woman wearing thanaka File:Girl wearing Thanaka paste in Yangon, Myanmar.jpg, A girl wearing thanaka in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Notes

{{Myanmar topics Burmese culture Cosmetics Skin care Wood products

History

Source and preparation

Application, style and properties

See also

Notes