My Mangal Sutra
I wrote before about the ways (at least in North India) that one can spot a married woman. One such way is the Mangal Sutra, a necklace that the groom puts on the bride during the marriage ceremony, equivalent to a wedding ring. Its made up of a gold locket at the bottom and strings of small black and gold beads connecting both sides; the black beads are meant to keep away evil spirits and the connecting of the gold pendant represents the union of husband and wife. Traditionaly, the wife wears her Mangal Sutra until death without removing it, but in today's world there are exceptions for removing it (necklaces break, girls want to wear other fashionable necklaces for different occassions, etc.), though one should avoid removing it to her best ability. Since our wedding day I have only removed mine once because I needed a new clasp on the back, the old one was irritating my skin and giving me a little rash. Yesterday I discovered that a string was hanging from my necklace and saw that part of it had broken and all of the black beads had fallen off. We decided to take it to a shop the next day to have it fixed...but what would I do until then? I was thinking it was no big deal, for less than 24 hours I could give my neck a little freedom, some fresh air, and return the necklace the next day.Wrong. A new bride should be without this Mangal Sutra. The cure? I would wear my Mother-In-Law's Mangal Sutra until mine could be fixed.
Mother-In-Law's Mangal Sutra
**May 27th Update: My necklace repairs are finished, now with a few style changes. Take a look:
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