SACRED CIRCLES

Tinkling enticingly,the glass bangles on a married woman's wrists play a dual role that of decoration and another one that tells the world of a woman's married status. In the Northern parts of India, when a young girl gets married, her first set of red glass bangles come from her future husband's home, in an elaborate thali. In the thali are placed all the items a bride needs to wear on her status of a married woman, like henna, her shaadi ka joda(the clothes she will wear during the marriage caremony), jewellery, red hair accessories(in the old days it was a red ribbon) and a set of pretty, lovingly made, red glass bangles, perhaps speckled with gold. Some communities, especially in Maharashtra, give only green bangles while others is red with green making the combination a really interesting one, as green is the colour of fertility and wealth, while vibrant red, of course, signifies marriage.

While some people believe that the breaking of a glass bangle, even by accident, is inauspicious, some others simply replace them without much ado, as after all glass is brittle and is quite fragile. One little knock against a hard surface and they shatter into a thousand pieces, never to become whole again. And that perhaps is one of the reasons why glass bangles are so inexpensive and pretty_a rare combination of afford ability and beauty.

Clay bangles have been in existence right from the time of Mohenjo_daro as broken bits of them were found during excavations (They accessorised even in those days!) The very word,'bangle' does not have English origins at all. It evolved from the Hindi bangri, which in turn has its origin in Sanskrit. It means ring around the arm or the leg.

When and how it evolved into a symbol of marriage, is anybody's guess. Red and green are the favourite colours of marriage, but sometimes they can clash with the clothes you wear. In which case, women prefer to wear a colour that goes with the outfit. Traditional Indian women through make sure they wear at least one red or green glass bangle along with the other colours as a respectful tribute to convention, or a belief in superstition.

While glass bangles are a sign of marriage in some parts of India, in Bengal, the women wear a conch bangle, and an iron bangle along with a red lac one. While the iorn and the lac one are important, the iorn bangle is the most important one. It signifies the strength of the relationship. It is worn to remind the women to keep her new family together and to keep it as strong as the iron bangle she wears on her wrist.

During festivals and occassions like Karva Chauth, Navrathri and Teej glass bangles are especially worn and distributed. The day before Karva Chauth, married women adorn their palms with henna designs and put on their glass bangles that are presented to them by their mothers-in-law, establishing their status as a suhagan.

Firozabad, the main manufacturing hub for glass bangles has some stiff competition from Hyderabad. Made mainly by the Kasars, a muslim community that specializes in making glass bangles for generations together. The lure of those glittery shiny circles of glass is tremendous, and the true test of the bangle seller is when he can slip the smallest glass bangles over the knobbiest knuckles and make them sit snug on the boniestof wrists.

Even in the 21st century, when a whole world of bangles in range of materials is available- there is nothing quite like the rainbow charms of the traditional glass bangle. Capturing the flavour of a way of life and allowing a women to express her femininity - the glass bangle will be part of the Indian womans's accessories for the long time to come.