About - Origins of Bangles

I love that so many people are drawn to bangles and enjoy their beauty, but it’s also important to remember where they come from. Bangles carry deep cultural roots, with a history tied to tradition, artistry, and heritage. While it’s wonderful to see the love for them growing everywhere, we want people to appreciate not just their style but also the origins and meaning behind them—and to respect the heritage that has kept this craft alive for generations. Read below for a brief history of their origins: 

A Brief History of Bangles
Bangles have been around for thousands of years. In India, their story goes all the way back to the Indus Valley Civilization, where the famous bronze “Dancing Girl” figurine was found wearing a bangle on her arm. Since then, bangles have been seen as a symbol of womanhood, love, and tradition.

Among all kinds of bangles, glass bangles became especially popular. The city of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh is known as the “Glass City of India” and has been making them for more than 200 years. The process is still very hands-on: glass is melted in furnaces, stretched into long tubes, cut into pieces, and shaped into circles. Families have passed down this craft for generations, and today millions of bangles are made there every single day.

What makes glass bangles special is not just their colors but also their distinct sound—a soft, musical jingling when they touch each other. In Indian culture, that sound is linked with happiness and prosperity, and it’s celebrated in songs, poetry, and films. Bollywood has immortalized bangles in classics like “Chudi Jo Khanki Haathon Mein” (from Saajan, 1991) and “Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan” (from Chandni, 1989), where their jingling becomes a metaphor for love and wedding joy. In Punjabi folk songs like “Chitta Kukkar Banere Te” and “Kala Doria”, bangles (choodiyan) are sung about at weddings, symbolizing festivity and a bride’s happiness. Even in Urdu ghazals, bangles appear as fragile but powerful symbols of emotion—sometimes tied to beauty and romance, and other times to heartbreak, as in verses like “Chooriyan toot gayin, khwaab bikhar gaye” (“the bangles shattered, dreams scattered”).

From ancient history to modern times, bangles have remained more than just ornaments. They are part of daily life, festivals, and weddings, carrying with them stories of tradition, artistry, and identity. You can now find them in many different materials, glass, metal, wood, velvet, etc. 

We hope that this brief history has informed you of their importance in South Asian culture and communities. 💛