Bangles hold a great traditional value for Indian women. More commonly known as Choodi in Hindi, Bangles are usually made of glass, silver, copper, wood, plastic and are available in various colors and models. The tradition of wearing bangles in India has been in existence for real long. However, even today, women love to wear bangles to enhance their feminine grace and beauty.
The word bangle has been derived from the HINDI word Bangri or Bangali, Which in Sanskrit gives the meaning “The ornament which adorns the arm”. They are a part of our culture, but there is so much more to bangles than that.
The colorful bangles that have graced a woman’s wrist since ages are not just an accessory that women wear to decorate them but rather there is a scientific, spiritual and traditional reason behind it. And you will be amazed to know them.
1. Bangles help to maintain blood circulation level.
As the bangles are worn on the wrists, they cause constant friction with the wrist which increases the blood circulation level. Furthermore, the electricity passing out through the outer skin is again reverted to one’s own body because of the ring-shaped bangles, which has no ends to pass the energy outside but to send it back to the body.
Also, there are supposed to be some pressure points in the wrist area, which when pressed by bangles, help in maintaining hormonal balance. This is the main reason why even many men wore some bangle like accessories in the olden days.
2. Tinkling sound of bangles keep mother and child both stress-free.
In the southern part of India, there is a ceremony called ‘baby shower’ where women are gifted bangles to wear. But this normal looking ceremony has deeper scientific meaning.
According to scientific study, at the seventh month of pregnancy, the brain cells of baby start activating and the baby starts to learn and recognize sounds. And a tinkling sound of bangles provides acoustic stimuli for the baby. This is a time where exposure to classical music and soothing sounds will affect the child’s disposition later in life.
3. Bangles help to maintain Emotional Balance.
A research conducted on ladies wearing glass bangles and those wearing bangles made of other synthetic materials had revealed that woman wearing non-glass bangles experienced distress such as pressure on the head or body, fatigue etc.
Glass bangles are pacifiers and moderators of strong emotions.
4. Bangles help to keep unwanted negative energy away.
It is believed that sound of bangles created due to friction in the hands of a person wearing them helps to keep unwanted negative energy away from the house of wearer.
Glass bangles were found to absorb the goodness and purity from the atmosphere and the elements prevailing in the natural environs around and radiate them on to the wearer. The sound caused due to the jostling of bangles with each other also found to be soothing and gentle on the environs and the sound echoed the serenity of the surroundings onto the wearer, back. Also, glass bangles repulsed the bad vibes in the surroundings and protected the body of the wearer from evil agents in the atmosphere.
Marak (Destroyer) waves are created by the sound of the bangles worn in larger numbers by a newly married woman. With the help of these waves, the newly married woman is protected from the evil eye and attacks of negative energies.
5. Bangles help to strengthen bones of a hand wearing them.
Bangles are also made up of metals like gold and silver which help in strengthening the bones of the hand wearing them. Due to the friction of gold and silver, it’s believed that the metallic property of these metals enter inside body and have medical benefit to the person wearing them. In Ayurveda too, the ashes of these ornaments are used to provide energy to the body.
The significance of bangles for Married women:
In India, wearing bangles is a must for married women which symbolizes the well-being of her husband. However, the material and color of bangles preference vary from region to region.
While in north India mostly Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and Rajasthan, the ivory bangles (chuda) are compulsory; in states like Odisha and West Bengal, bangles made of lac (pola) and shell (Shankha) are mandatory for married ladies.
Those from South, like Maharashtra and Karnataka, wears Green colored glass bangles. And women from the North, like UP and Punjab, wear Red ones. Green has a divine quality of being peaceful and vibrant while red has the power to destroy evil. Bangles which have gold colored work on them are not as effective and they do not pass on the benefit that plain colored glass bangles do.
In some communities, there is a belief that golden bangles should not be worn alone, so they are teamed with some glass bangles. In Some communities, women are so superstitious that when changing the bangles they don’t remove all the bangles making their arms completely bare. They keep at least one bangle to the arm until they wore another set of bangles. They believe empty arm brings bad luck.
Bangles are not worn by widows in Hindu customs. They can, however, wear gold bangles, but glass bangles are a strict no-no for them.
So, now we know that bangles were not just some ornaments, but also served a very good scientific reason.