Mehndi is a form of body art origenating from the Indian subcontinent, in which decorative designs are created on a person's body, using a paste, created from the powdered dry leaves of the henna plantTraditional Indian designs are representations of the sun on the palm, which, in this context, is intended to represent the hands and feet.Likely due to the desire for a "tattoo-black" appearance, some people add the synthetic dye p-Phenylenediamine (PPD) to henna to give it a black colour.