From VOICES: A Body of Art: Beautiful Brides in India

Volume 26
Fall-Winter
2000

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JANGLING BANGLES

Anita Mishra lives in Banaras, an important pilgrimage site and Hindu holy city in northeastern India. She is forty and has been married for ten years. She and her husband live in his family’s house, along with her mother-in-law and other in-laws. They chose to wed each other; such "love marriages" are uncommon in India, where unions are frequently arranged.

In India it is considered auspicious for a wife to wear the jewelry that defines her as a married woman. Not to wear the marriage jewelry—toe rings, anklets, and most important, bangles—can be a bad omen for the husband.

Anita’s daily adornment, however, does not include many bangles because she does not like the sound they make. She works as an art teacher in a private school and finds that the sound disturbs her students as well. Anita makes other concessions for her husband, since, being childless, "We only have each other." At home she wears many more ornaments than she feels comfortable wearing, especially at night when they have retired to their bedroom. Anita’s husband loves the sound of glass bangles, and she wears them for him.

The sound really bothers me—the exact thing that appeals to him. Some people are used to the sounds. When cooking food or washing clothes, the bangles keep sounding. I am not in the habit.

The chura [Punjabi plastic wedding bangles] have lots of aesthetic appeal but no sound, no disturbance. So growing up in the Punjabi neighborhood, I got used to the look and no sound of the plastic bangles. Maybe if my mother had worn glass bangles, I would have liked the sound more. My husband’s mother has always worn glass bangles; it is a symbol of marriage for my husband. So he likes it because he has grown up with that sound.

If my husband falls asleep before me, I will take them all off.

Pravina Shukla was born to Indian parents in Oslo, Norway, and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. Her Ph.D. dissertation is based on research she did on women’s adornment in the northeast region of India. She is currently assistant professor in the Folklore Department at Indiana University.

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A Body of Art: Beautiful Brides in India
By PRAVINA SHUKLA

Items of jewelry are dynamic instruments, affecting motion and being affected by motion, creating sounds, and even, in the case of floral jewelry, emitting fragrances. In rural India, the placement, presence, and absence of jewelry on the body are socially acceptable ways of communicating nonverbally. By carefully combining jewelry with dress, women assert their individuality, creativity, sexuality, and good taste. In a culture where individuality is seemingly discouraged, women engage in a process of constantly recreating themselves by the art of self-adornment, through which they attain status and individual identity as well as self-esteem.

Shalini Srivastava’s bridal ensemble highlights her natural beauty and showcases her simple and elegant taste in clothes and jewelry Photo: Pravina Shukla

In the Indian wedding, the bride is decorated from head to toe with paint, elaborate dress, and heavy jewelry, all intended to communicate the wealth and good taste of both families. This discourse is embodied in her adornment. It is a performance art, an exhibition meant to be viewed by spectators and recorded on film. In this self-conscious presentation of herself, the young woman empowers herself by taking control of the aesthetics of her body. The body art of Indian women was featured in the American Museum of Natural History’s recent exhibition, "Body Art: Marks of Identity," for which the author was co-curator.

A Punjabi bride’s wedding adornment includes red and white bridal bangles, gold jewelry, and intricate henna painting. Photo: Pravina Shukla

Henna painting generally decorates the exposed parts of the body, particularly the hands and feet, but patterns that extend toward the elbows and knees often induce erotic interest.Photo: Pravina Shukla


	A bride and groom sit on display on special marriage thrones while relatives take turns having their photos taken with the couple. Photo: Pravina Shukla

The text above is an abstract of the full article which was published in Voices Vol. 26, Fall-Winter, 2000. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a charter subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society now.