Soon after, a woman came in, with a large basket full of churees for the arms (bracelets), which were made of rings of glass, ornamented with beads. Every body at the wedding, from the Begam to the youngest slave, had churees put on their arms; I was also decorated. These rings are extremely small; to put them on requires considerable art, it being necessary to mull the hand, and render it very pliant, before it can pass through so very small a circumference as that of the churee. (From Fanny Parkes’ very entertaining early 19th century book Pilgrim in search of the Picturesque).

The use of glass bangles probably dates back to medieval times though of late they have been replaced by metal bangles, especially in the metros (a bit on child labour practices in the glass bangle industry).  And a bit on Sarojin Naidu and her poem on bangles.