What Bangles Are Worn by Indian Married Women?

 The tradition of wearing bangles has been there since ages. It is an inseparable part of Indian women’s costume. Bangles signify the marital status of an Indian woman. Since, Indian culture is varied in nature, almost every region has distinct wedding rituals and customs. As we know women are the bearer of culture, the culture of a particular region is defined by the costume women wear. Bangles, being an inseparable part of Indian costume, you see women from varied culture wear distinct designer bangles, starting from bangles made of lack and copper to designer diamond bangles. Here is a list of popular bangles designs endorsed by Indian married women:

Bangles worn by Punjabi Women

An inseparable part of Punjabi women’s wedding costume, chudha or ivory bangles add a vibrant style to a bride’s appearance. Chudhas are slender ivory bangles in white and red decked with stones. Women wear them in multiple of four. These bangles are handed over to would be brides by their mother during the time of marriage. In some communities, women wear it for a year, while women from communities like Mohyal wear it for 15 months. The occasion of wearing chudha for the first time on the morning of the wedding is celebrated with pomp and show by Punjabi communities.

Bangles worn by Bengali women

Bengali women can be easily identified by the two pieces of white and red bangles they wear. They are called shankha and pola. Shankha is basically a white bangle carved out of conch shell and pola are red bangles made up of red corals. There was a time when aristocratic ladies used to wear bangles made of ivory. Shankha-pola are worn by women from Odisha as well. However, on the day of wedding, women do wear designer gold bangles.

Bangles worn by Gujarati and Rajasthani women

Gujarat and Rajasthan have similarities when it comes to cultural landscape. And these similarities can be witnessed in the outfits of women from both the regions. In both the states, Hindu mothers gift would be bride daughter a pair of ivory bangles. According to tradition, it is only after wearing these bangles the bridal couple can perform Saptapadi or saat phere.

Bangles worn by women in Maharashtra

Traditionally Marathi brides wear green bangles in their weddings. It is claimed to be the mandatory colour of bangles in a wedding. However, the modern brides try to do a mix and match with other colour bangles. They do wear gold bangles these days. Many Marathi brides wear bangles matching with their wedding outfit

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Bangles worn by women in Kerala

Malayali brides are seen wearing heavy gold jewellery. They prefer to wear gold since it signifies the financial status and reputations. Some of them do wear glass bangles and other designer bangles matching with their outfit. Brides from Kerala also wear heavy gold kadas.

As we mentioned earlier, brides from distinct region wear distinct varieties of bangles, it is indeed exciting to see them in their wedding outfit.