Ethnic grace !

Bangles have since long adored the Indian woman. A very important accessory, be it for a wedding, festival or a social-do. Adoring her slender elegant wrist the bangle had been a part of a woman’s dress statement since ages. Indian Hindu culture sees bangles as a symbol of a woman’s marital status, her ‘suhaag’. The Idealist ‘pati–vrita’ is said to conceive her husband’s well being in her pair of bangles.


Bangles with Bidri work is a very well-known form of handicraft, in Andhra Pradesh, especially. Black metal inlaid with silver is the local specialty. Andhra brides sport red and green bangles that symbolize ‘suhaag’ and prosperity. The glorious art of bangle-making has been related to Indian culture, aesthetic sense, rituals and social way of life. Superb workmanship could be seen in different media and silver in this piece of jewelry. Of late, as fashion, women folk wear bangles made of made even unconventional materials like terracotta, wood and stone. The demand for such items is indeed enormous. Besides, mention on various kinds of silver ornaments is found in 'Rig Veda’. Glass and studded bangles of bidri are a favorite with women our home state. This type of art form is believed to have originated in Iran seven centuries ago, the black art reflects the Sufi influence even today. If I may share another nugget, Moghul royals decorated their weapons on bidri style.


Capital city, Hyderabad is known for its bangles made of glass & lacquer and studded with colorful stones. In recent times, manufacturers have started giving bangle-varieties fancy names akin to those of popular Hindi movies. The Hyderabadi bangle seller’s palette is as colorful as any that of any painter’s. Some of the local favorites are glass bangles with kundan work; bangles with mental beads, golden wires, golden zaris and metal bangles with danglers. Though plush gold jewel show rooms in the city have classy designer bangles, the traditional varieties have not lost their fan-following, not a bit. The place to shop for bangles of the largest variety and at reasonable prices is the Laad Bazaar adjacent to the historic Charminar. These markets around the Charminar are as old as the city itself, 400 years and more. The women of the local Muslim community in charminar adore ‘sonabai ka chudi’, a favorite variety among them .So, bangle making is a unique art from in itself.


The jewelers of Rajasthan specialized in the setting of precious stories into gold and the enameling of gold. The Rajasthani bangle makers are a class at their own right. Jaipur, and to some extent Alwar, emerged as the enameling centers par excellence in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Enameling was introduced by Maharaja Man Singh who had cordial relations with Akbar. The enameled gold staff of the Maharaja is unsurpassed even today for its brilliant colors. For enameling, the piece to be worked on is fixed on a stick of lac and delicate designs of flowers, birds and fishes etched on it.

Now, I am going to carry on because I am in a mood for some history, so let us go back in time. The bangle has a history just as rich as its beauty. During the Harrappan and Mohenja Daro civilization bangles were made from a round hammered rod bent in a full circle. The space between the ends of the bangle would be pried apart to slip it over the wrist. Many of the terra cotta bangles were originally painted with black or red designs. Women of Indus valley wore shell and clay bracelets and metallic bangles.


The first culture in Asia to start jewelry making was China around 5,000 years ago. History has it that the Chinese women valued jade bracelet bangles and felt very elegant wearing them. These jade bangles are actually made of a variety called jadeite jade. By the way, 95 % of jade jadeite is mined in Myanmar. Jadeite jade is mined in the Kachin state in northern Myanmar. The Chinese made bangles mainly of silver rather than gold and used a lot of blue in their bangles and they contained many Buddhist symbols. Blue kingfisher feathers were tied onto early Chinese jewellery and later, blue gems and glass were incorporated into designs. However, Chinese preferred jade over any other stone. They fashioned it using diamonds, as indicated in finds from areas in the country. The Chinese revered jade because of the human-like qualities they assigned to it, such as its hardness, durability and beauty. The first jade pieces were very simple, but as time progressed, more complex design evolved. Jade rings from between the 4th and 7th centuries BCE show evidence of having been worked with a compound milling machine; hundreds of years before the first mention of such equipment in the west.


So, the next time you walk into a crowded bangle-bazaar remember you walking down the lane of History and that our neighbors, the Chinese relish those lovely pieces of jewelry just as much. One of the other reasons jade was so popular with the Chinese is that for them green (not purple) is the color of royalty. So, the fascination among them picked up with their royals taking to jade.