Chura (bangles)

For other uses, see Chura (disambiguation).

Chura (in Hindi-Urdu), chuda, or chudlo^[1] (in Gujarati) is a set of bangles traditionally worn by a bride on her wedding day and for a period after, especially in Indian weddings.

Esha Deol wearing chura at her wedding

Materials and appearance

The chura is usually red and white; sometimes the red bangles are replaced with another colour, but they are usually only two colours. They are traditionally made of ivory,^[2] with inlay work, though now made with plastic.^[3] Traditionally there are 21 bangles,^[4] although more recently the bride often wears 7, 9 or 11 bangles.^[5] The bangles range in size according to the circumference of the top of the forearm and the wrist end so that the set fits neatly.

Gujarati chudlo

In Gujarati tradition, the bridal bangles are referred to as chudlo (ચૂડલો).^[1] Traditionally they were made using elephant's tusks/ivory and were known as "haathi daant no chudlo". These bangles are gifted to the bride by her maternal uncle.

Chudlo is generally paired with Gujarati bridal sari known as Panetar. These chudlo bangles are generally red and green in colour to match the Panetar sari. Chudlo has great significance in Gujarati culture as is evident several folk songs like "Chudlo Lyado Ji Meera Bai Pehar Lyo" and "Radha Chudlo Perje Mara Naam Nu".^[6]

Marathi Hirva chuda

Hirva chuda, peacock green-coloured chuda bangles are preferably worn by Marathi brides. The green is the colour of fertility and is associated with Devi (Hindu Goddess). In the Devi shrines of Tuljabhavani and Renukadevi, the Goddesses are adorned using Hirva chuda. The Marathi tradition of Hirva chuda during marriage is akin to wearing green bangles during Hariyali Teej in North India. Sometimes, green bangles are also paired with red bangles. The hirva chuda (green bangles) are worn after the haldi oil bath, given by a suvasini and are worn for a year.^[7]

Nepali chura

A Nepali chura set is usually made of red-coloured gilded bangles. Chura bangles are often paired with pote (beaded necklace).^[8] Chura bangle sets are also worn during Teej celebrations as is evident from Nepali Teej songs like "Chura Tika Laali".

Odia and Bengali Shakha Pola chura

In Odia & Bengali marriages, brides wear red and white set of bangles which are made from sea shell (shankh) and red coral (pola). Thus, Shakha are white bangles made through conch-shell and Pola are red bangles made by red corals. Loha, a large iron bangle covered with gold is also worn along with Shakha Pola chura.^[9]

Assamese Muthi Kharu chura

The Muthi Kharu is a traditional and ethnic bangle worn in marriages by the bride also while celebrating Bihu festival in Assam extensively. It has a golden layer and silver in some parts making it more attractive.^[10]

Sindhi chura

Sindhi traditional churas were made of ivory and seashells, but today it is made of plastic of different colours like red, blue, green, orange etc are also used unlike traditionally it was only of white colour. Ivory was used to make many jewelries, the Bhambhore city had the biggest ivory workshop in the world.^[11][12]

In Sindh the traditional churas were rings of ivory covering the fore arms or full arms,^[13] these were worn by all sects, religions and classes but unlike other parts of India these were not worn as wedding symbol, as unmarried women would also wear Churas, perhaps only till forearms.^[14]

There are three different styles/types of such churas worn in Sindh first are Sindhi style, Dhatki style and Marwari style. The traditional churas have been completely abandoned by many Sindhi women of Sindh today and have adopted wearing the red coloured churas made of glass worn usually by bride only on the wedding ceremony, for others glass bangles or silver or gold Kangar/Kara (bracelets) are worn. But many women of Thar still continue to wear the ancient Sindhi churas.

Customary use

Wearing the chura is primarily an Indian Hindu tradition which is also followed by other Indian religious communities culturally. Sindhoor and Mangalsutra— are other adornments worn by married women. The custom is widely observed in Jammu, Himachal,^[15] Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan^[16][17] and Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.^[18][4] The chura ceremony ^[18] is held on the morning of the wedding or the day before.^[2] The bride's maternal uncle and aunt give her a set of churiyan.

Traditionally, the bride would wear a chura for a full year,^[19] although if a newly wed bride became pregnant before her first anniversary, the chura was taken off. When the colour started to fade, her in-laws would actually have it re-coloured, so everyone would know that she had been married for less than a year.^[20] On an auspicious holiday, usually Sankranti, after the first anniversary her in-laws would hold a small intimate ceremony in which the chura was removed and glass churiyan (bangles) were placed on both hands. This usually was accompanied with mithai (Indian sweets) and a monetary shagun. The chura then was taken to a river and a prayer was said and it was left to float onto the water. Afterwards the woman could wear other chura in any colour for as long as she liked.

It is now normal for the bride to wear her chura for a month and a quarter (40 days). As the chura is made of fragile materials, Indian custom has it that the bride may refrain from heavy housework in her marital home to keep it intact for the 40 days, as a kind of honeymoon. After that, in traditional homes at least, she takes over the lion's share of domestic work from her mother-in-law.^[21]

References

1. Gujarat (India) (1969). Gazetteers: Bhavnagar District. Directorate of Government Print., Stationery and Publications.
2. Veena Talwar Oldenburg (2002). Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime. Oxford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-19-515072-8.
3. Amiteshwar Ratra; Praveen Kaur; Sudha Chhikara (1 January 2006). Marriage And Family : In Diverse And Changing Scenario. Deep & Deep Publications. pp. 500–. ISBN 978-81-7629-758-5.
4. Mathew Mathews (2017). Singapore Ethnic Mosaic, The: Many Cultures, One People. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 317. ISBN 978-981-323-475-8.
5. Mina Singh (2005). Ceremony of the Sikh wedding. Rupa & Co. p. 38. ISBN 9788129106339.
6. Sharma, Manorma (2004). Folk India: A Comprehenseive Study of Indian Folk Music and Culture. Sundeep Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7574-135-5.
7. The Illustrated Weekly of India. Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. July 1970.
8. Shrestha, Bimala (1997). Social Life in Nepal, 1885-1950. Vani Prakashan Co-operative Limited.
9. Sharma, Arvind; Young, Katherine K. (2001-11-01). The Annual Review of Women in World Religions: Volume VI. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5426-8.
10. Sarma, Ashok (2004). Folk Culture of the Misings of Assam: Tradition and Change. Decent Books. ISBN 978-81-86921-27-2.
11. "Archaeologists discover huge ivory factory in Pakistan's ancient Bhanbhore city". Arab News PK. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
12. "RBSI - Shells, shell bangles and ivory from excavations. Brahmanabad and Depar Gangro, Hyderabad District. - 1896 Photograph of miscellaneous shells, shell bangles and ivory from excavations at Brahmanabad". rarebooksocietyofindia.org. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
13. Magedin, Shireen (2022-05-07). Lifelines. In many Sindhi tribes married women had to wear ivory-coloured bangles that covered their arms? Your great grandmother used to wear them. She told me that an ideal set would have included seventeen bangles worn on the upper arm and nine on the lower arm; a total of fifty-two bangles on each arm." My great grandmother? I listened with interest.
14. Burton, Richard; Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1992). Sindh and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus: With Notices of the Topography and History of [the] Province. Asian Educational Services. p. 302. ISBN 978-81-206-0758-3. Sindhi women are fond of wearing a multitude of ornaments; they are not, however, so profuse in their decorations as the natives of India, who will rather wear bangles of glass and gum than leave the wrist bare. In Sindh these bangles are unknown to the people. Their chief peculiarity is the fondness for large rings of ivory covering the fore arm; these are worn by all sects and classes.
15. affair, Wedding (2023-01-19). "The Himachali Wedding". Wedding Affair. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
16. Pravina Shukla (2015). The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India. Indiana University Press. p. 431. ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2.
17. Taknet, D. K.; IntegralDMS (2016-07-07). Jaipur: Gem of India. IntegralDMS. ISBN 978-1-942322-05-4.
18. Kumar Suresh Singh; Anthropological Survey of India (2005). People of India. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 1127. ISBN 978-81-7304-114-3.
19. Pravina Shukla (2015). The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India. Indiana University Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2.
20. Prakash Tandon (1968). Punjabi Century, 1857-1947. University of California Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-520-01253-0.
21. Surinder Singh bakhshi (2009). Sikhs in the Diaspora. Dr Surinder Bakhshi. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-9560728-0-1.

^[1]

1. Jain, Anchit (2024-04-15). "What is the significance of the Chooda ceremony? - ITAC". ITAC. Retrieved 2024-10-17.