Bangles are traditionally rigid

bracelets A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

which are usually made of metal, wood, glass or plastic. These ornament are worn mostly by women in the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia,

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It is common to see a bride wearing glass bangles at weddings in India,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and in other Asian countries. Bangles may also be worn by young girls and bangles made of gold or silver are preferred for toddlers. Some men and women wear a single bangle on the arm or

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

called ''kada'' or ''kara''. In Sikhism, the father of a Sikh bride will give the groom a gold ring, a kara (steel or iron bangle), and a

mohra ''Mohra'' () is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-written, edited and directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by his father Gulshan Rai. It stars Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon in the lead roles, along with Naseeruddin ...

. Chooda is a kind of bangle that is worn by Punjabi women on her wedding day. It is a set of white and red bangles with stonework. According to tradition, a woman is not supposed to buy the bangles she will wear. Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh is India's largest producer of bangles.

History

Bangles made from sea shell, copper,

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

, gold,

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...

chalcedony Chalcedony ( , or ) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monoclinic. ...

, etc. have been first excavated from multiple archaeological sites throughout the Indian subcontinent.Ghosh, page 224 A figurine of a dancing girl wearing bangles on her left arm has been excavated from the

Mohenjo-daro Mohenjo-daro (; sd, موئن جو دڙو'', ''meaning 'Mound of the Dead Men';Pakistan.Ghosh, page 83 Other early examples of bangles in

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

include copper samples from the excavations at Mahurjhari, followed by the decorated bangles belonging to the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

(322–185 BC) and the gold bangle samples from the historic site of

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area a ...

(6th century BC). Decorated shell bangles have also been excavated from multiple Mauryan sites. Other features include copper rivets and gold-leaf inlay in some cases.

Design

Bangles are circular in shape, and, unlike

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

s, are not flexible. The word is derived from Hindi (glass). They are made of numerous precious as well as non-precious materials such as gold, silver,

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platin ...

, glass, wood,

ferrous metals In chemistry, the adjective Ferrous indicates a compound that contains iron(II), meaning iron in its +2 oxidation state, possibly as the divalent cation Fe2+. It is opposed to "ferric" or iron(III), meaning iron in its +3 oxidation state, such as ...

, plastic, etc. Bangles made from sea shell, which are white colour, are worn by married

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and Oriya Hindu women. A special type of bangle is worn by women and girls, especially in the Bengal area, commonly known as a "Bengali bangle", which is used as a substitute for a costly gold bangle, and is produced by fixing a thin gold strip (weighing between 1–3 g) is thermo-mechanically fused onto a bronze bangle, followed by manual crafting on that fused gold strip. Bangles are part of traditional

South Asian South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; T ...

jewellery. They are sometimes worn in pairs by women, one or more on each arm. It is also common for women to wear a single bangle or several bangles on just one wrist. Most Indian women prefer wearing either gold or glass bangles or a combination of both. Inexpensive bangles made from plastic are slowly replacing those made by glass, but the ones made of glass are still preferred at traditional occasions such as marriages and on festivals. Bangles are the signs for traditional women and girls. Bangles play a very important role in various India dance forms. Some of dance forms include bangles striking to each other a tone of the music. The designs range from simple to intricate handmade designs, often studded with precious and semi-precious stones such as diamonds,

gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

s and pearls. Sets of expensive bangles made of gold and silver make a jingling sound. The imitation jewellery tends to make a tinny sound when jingled.

Types

There are two basic types of bangles: a solid cylinder type; and a split, cylindrical spring opening/closing type. The primary distinguishing factor between these is the material used to make the bangles. This may vary from anything from glass to jade to metal to

lac Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is '' Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infe ...

and even rubber or plastic. One factor that adds to the price of the bangles is the artifacts or the work done further on the metal. This includes embroidery or small glass pieces or paintings or even small hangings that are attached to the bangles. The rareness of a color and its unique value also increase the value. Bangles made from lac are one of the oldest types and among the most brittle.

Lac Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is '' Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infe ...

is a resinous material, secreted by insects, which is collected and molded in hot kilns to make these bangles. Among the recent kinds are rubber bangles, worn more like a wristband by youngsters, and plastic ones which add a trendy look. Normally, a bangle worn by people around the world is simply an inflexible piece of jewelry worn around the wrist. However, in many cultures, especially those from

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term ...

s and the broader Indian subcontinent, bangles have evolved into various types in which different ones are used on different occasions. Following are some popular designs of bangles in India:- # Jadau Bangles (Also known Kundan). # Meenakari Bangles. # Lac or Lakhs Bangles. Bangles, in India, usually used by married women or girl. A chura is a set of Bangles traditionally worn by a bride on her wedding day and for a period after, especially in Punjabi weddings.

Production

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...

, India, has a historic world-famous market for bangles named

Laad Bazaar Laad Bazaar or Choodi Bazaar is a market located in Hyderabad, India. It is located on one of the four main roads that branch out from the Charminar. ''Laad'' meaning lacquer, is used to make bangles, on which artificial diamonds are studde ...

. *Glass bangles are mostly produced in the old Indian city of

Firozabad Firozabad is a city near Agra in Firozabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the centre of India's glassmaking industry and is known for the quality of the bangles and also glasswares produced there. During the reign of ...

in North India. *In Pakistan, glass bangles are produced mainly in

, Sindh.

Gallery

Laadbazar.jpg, Laad Bazar Multicolor Glass Bangles Gangotri WTK20150915-DSC 4117.jpg, Multicolor glass bangles in Gangotri Tamil Bangles.jpg, Tamil bangles Women wearing bangles in Chittagong (02).jpg, Bangladeshi women wearing Reshmi bangles Plastic Bangles at sale in Bangalore 194625.jpg, Plastic Bangles, Bangalore Womens Business, Pushkar, India (6947001532).jpg, Women's Business, Pushkar, India File:Vendor in Pakistan sells bangles made of glass in variety of colours and designs.jpg, The vendor women sell bangles made of glass in variety of colours and designs which is very popular among the women. File:চুড়ি.jpg, Bangles at a shop. File:Bangles_Ornaments.jpg, Bangles for sale.

Notes

References

* Ghosh, Amalananda (1990). ''An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology''. Brill. {{ISBN, 90-04-09264-1. Jewellery Bracelets Southeast Asia Jewellery of India Jewellery of Pakistan