Alta or Mahawar or Rose Bengal is a red dye which women in India (specially Rajput, Bengali and Oriya women in Eastern India) or Bangladesh apply with cotton on the border of their feet during marriages and religious festivals. During Durga Puja many Bengali women put Alta on their feet. In certain areas of India like Gujrat, Uttar Pradesh and others, there is a tradition that after the wedding ceremony, when the bride enters her in-laws house for the first time, she steps in a plate of Alta before crossing the threshold with her right foot, leaving red footsteps behind her.