Mangalsutra, Mañgalsûtr
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
The evolution of the mañgalsûtr
2018: as bracelets, rings
Shobita Dhar, Mangalsutra on your wrist, December 9, 2018: The Times of India
From: Shobita Dhar, Mangalsutra on your wrist, December 9, 2018: The Times of India
It’s not just Bollywood brides who are experimenting with the traditional black bead and gold ornament. From sporting it like a bracelet to a minimalist ring, young women are turning this suhaag ki nishani into a style statement
Deepika Padukone made for an unconventional bride. At her wedding reception last week, she traded her stilettos for sneakers and got rid of the long train of her Zuhair Murad gown to transform it into a short red dress while her mangalsutra was a simple string of black beads with a solitaire pendant. Twenty-eight-year old Vatsala Hali wants to be just as different. Though she’s not going to wear sneakers to her Delhi wedding in January next year, she wants a mangalsutra just like Deepika’s. “It makes it more wearable, and I want to wear it and not keep it locked up in a safe,” says the Beng alur ubased communications professional who is looking at options that are more suited to her budget.
Like her, more young brides and married women are picking up new, modern interpretations of the traditional mangalsutra which will work well western office and party outfits. Caratlane.com has a ‘modern mangalsutra’ gallery on its homepage, showing designs priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh and more. “Women now want to wear the mangalsutra daily, so they want less design. Last year, we launched a line of mangalsutras that can be worn as a bracelet and as a ring.,” says Pradnya Mhaske, head, design and merchandising, Caratlane.
Search #mangalsutra on Instagram and you get to see how it has evolved for the modern wardrobe. A single gold string with a small diamond in the centre and two black beads each to the right and the left; a single string with a name pendant; black beads on a white gold string; mangalsutras as bracelets and rings…the options are varied and versatile.
This week, BlueStone, an online jewelry portal, launched a line of convertible mangalsutras which can also be worn like a bracelet. “Non-traditional designs are definitely picking up. We feel that for the younger customers, the idea of being able to wear a mangalsutra on the wrist is more appealing,” says Raminder Singh, principal jewelry designer, BlueStone. It’s a trend set by another Bollywood bride Sonam Kapoor whose wrist-mangalsutra was criticised on social media for being “disrespectful”.
Purists may be uncomfortable at this transformation of an ornament associated with marriage and the husband’s long life and well-being. In fact, many Bollywood potboilers showed onscreen wives dramatically yanking out their mangalsutras, black beads spilling on the floor, when their husbands died.
However, most modern young women don’t see it like that. Meghna Bhat, 29, has a traditional mangalsutra which she got for her wedding but the one she prefers and wears every day is a single string of black beads with three solitaires in the middle. “I got it as a birthday gift this year from my parents. It doesn’t even look like a mang alsutra and I kind of like that,” says Bhat, an HR professional with a US-based startup.
Anshula Revo designed her own mangalsutra as a gold string with black beads and five solitaires in the centre. “A mangalsutra is supposed to show that you are married. But I didn’t want my mangalsutra to give that away. When men don’t have to wear any such symbol of marriage, then why should I,” asks Revo, 28, a biotech post-graduate who is getting married next week in Delhi-NCR.
Is this renewed interest in the mangalsutra just a Bollywood inspired trend, or is there more to it? Fashion editor and commentator Sujata Assomull says that anything traditional being reinvented with a twist finds favour with the millennials. “For these young women, getting married and wearing a mangalsutra is a choice, not a chore. So, they are doing it willingly and with style. It means that they are happy to be traditional but in their own unique way,” adds Assomull.
