Indian civilization is thousands of years old and one unique feature about Indian civilization is that art and culture are so intervened with the day to day life that it is difficult to separate them. In India be it the holy temples or the day to day clothes and jewelry everything, is a shining example of art in day to day life. In this post I want to talk about the very special piece of jewelry worn by Indian women.
From the ancient verses to the stone temples, to the miniature paintings wherever the artist has depicted the Nayika or heroine, they talk about the various ornaments the Nayika wears from head to toe. Be it the stone sculptures of Khajuraho, caves of Ajanta & Ellora, or the temple dancers of south India, every Nayika is adorned with jewelry and payals are an integral part of the traditional ornaments. The best part is that in most of the cases you will not be able to see the payals as they will be hidden from the eyes below the dress but you can hear the sound when the Nayika moves.
The Payal or Pajeb or anklets have been worn from time immemorial and are shown in the sculptures of ancient temples like the sacred center of Hampi. It is an integral part of every Indian girl’s jewelry box, and is typically the first piece of jewelry that the family gifts to new born girls to be worn in the feet even before she is able to walk. Indeed the melodious sound coming from the beats of payals mixed with giggling of the Luxmi of the family (Luxmi = goddess of wealth and prosperity-as a daughter is called) makes parents beam with pride and joy.
The ancient traditional designs are pretty heavy and come in form of anklets with small bells to make a melodious sound, now only worn by classical dancers during dance performances. An accomplished dancer will tap her feet adorned with Ghungroos (a kind of heavy metal anklet with bells), to give company to the musicians.
But today with changing trends most of the girls do not wear heavy jewelry and like to wear very light payals, sometime just a strand of black thread with a few colorful beads thrown in to break the monotony of the black. Such payals are not just fashion statement they also are believed to ward off evil eye. These thin payals are very popular with the younger generation as they can be fashionable without wearing heavy ornaments and go well with both Indian as well as western dresses.
In rural and tribal India women still wear heavy payals made of silver or an alloy of silver. Some of them are tied with help of a hook and will have small intricately carved designs depicting traditional designs with small bells. Other will wear it just as a round metallic ring worn on the ankles with minimum designs.
You can buy Payals or anklets in many designs and materials like pearls, silver, embellished with semi precious stones. What is interesting to note is that in some parts of India gold is not used for making anklets as it is considered to be a noble metal not to be worn in feet. Irrespective of the material the basic purpose of the payal is to make the feet look good, and indeed if you look at these pictures they serve their purpose very well.
So my dear reader next time you are visiting India and want to do some jewelry shopping you must look at anklets or payals. Though they are available all over India and online some of the hotspots for doing jewelry shopping are the Old city of Delhi, and Jaipur where the sheer quantity and variety of designs is mind boggling. The price of a Payal depending on the material and design will start from a couple of dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the metal and stones used in making them.
About the Author: Prasad Np also known as desi Traveler is a corporate executive most of the week, but he wears many hats. He is blogger, photographer, traveler and a potential investor in start-ups with unique concepts especially if they are in travel related business.