Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Maanga Maalai

I have written about different "maalai", a long chain with pieces of either maanga or paisley shaped designs.

Maanga in Tamil means Mango. The paisley shape resembles the mango fruit. So it is called "Maanga Maalai".

Mangoes are everyone's favourite in India, so are the designs resembling it.

This Maalai is worn as a single piece by women attending functions, or as a bridal jewellery nestled among other jewellery.

There are sets of Maanga maalai, which contains the long chain, bangle, and earrings.
There are also shorter versions of Maangai maalai, which is called maanga necklace.



There are different types of maanga malai. Studded with rubies, or emeralds are the rich versions of it.
These are studded with red stones. You can see plain maanga malai on top and the one with stones in it below. So there are varieties in this. There are even spacer beads in the maalai. But I personally like the traditional version of this. Plain one. If worn as a single piece of jewellery with a silk saree or a silk salwar kameez will stand out.