IV. 



THE USB OF CHANK BANGLES. 



(1) In Northern India. 



(2) In the Madras Presidency. 



(1) In Northern India. — Although evidence is strong in favour of the belief that 

 the custom of wearing chank bracelets was in old times prevalent throughout the length 

 and breadth of India, more especially in the Tamil country, in the Deccan, in Kathiawar, 

 Gujarat, and Bengal, at the present day only in Bengal, the adjacent hill regions to the 

 west, north, and east and in a few Tamil-speaking districts in the extreme south of 

 India, does the custom continue to be widely observed and of notable social importance. 



In Bengal and wherever in the adjoining Provinces of Assam, Behar and Orissa 

 there are colonies of the Bengali race, every married woman of aU castes which are 

 thoroughly Hinduised is bound to possess a pair of chank bangles lacquered in vermilion 

 as one of the visible tokens of her married state ; the red sankha, or shakha as it is called 

 in Dacca, is indeed as necessary of assumption during the marriage ceremonies as is the 

 performance of that other Hindu custom of smearing a streak of vermilion on the fore- 

 head or down the parting of the bride's hair or as the wedding ring of English women. 

 Garcia da Orta's curious statement quoted on page 73 is to be explained in the light of 

 this custom ; his informants doubtless meant to convey no more than that among 

 the better classes an essential part of the marriage ceremony consisted in placing chank 

 bracelets on the arms of the bride. The women of castes holding good social status 

 appear, however, to have no great liking for the custom, particularly if their husbands 

 be well-to-do, and I was informed that they frequently lay them aside temporarily 

 in favour either of more handsomely carved ones or replace them when means permit 

 by gold and jewelled ones. Chank bangles are occasionally ornamented with gold and 

 set with jewels ; the price of these may reach several hundreds of rupees. The great 

 majority of married women, however, wear them permanently, never removing them 

 so long as their husbands are alive. Occasionally some of the modern sankha (marriage) 

 bangles are made in two sections secured together after the bangle is placed on the wrist 

 by means of tiny bamboo pins as it is otherwise impossible to pass one of the right size 

 over the hand without great difficulty and the infliction of acute pain. 



49 j3 



