Her solah shringar or sixteen adornments complete, an Indian bride is a vision of beauty. It is on her wedding day that all the skills and traditions of the past are drawn out and concentrated on the bride-to-be. This one occasion makes everything else in her life-before or after-pale in comparison. Dr. Mulk Raj Anand and the late Krishna Nehru Hutheesing, in their The Bride's Book of Beauty, write, "Somewhere in the dark chambers is heard the wailing chant of a young bride. She is beautiful or she is plain, but she has made the best of those gifts that life has bestowed on her through shringar, the rules of which have come down from generation of generation. She adorns herself because it is part of a ritual that almost every woman practices. It is all very new to her and, consequently, there is a certain self-consciousness in her attempt to adorn herself, a self-consciousness accentuated by her desire to shine."

The bride's solah shringar starts from the top. Her hair, after being washed and oiled, is braided into a weave of plaits or tied back at the nape of her neck in a bun with flowers and ornaments adorning it. In addition, her forehead is embellished with the sisphul-a large circular half ball worn by the Rajputs. The mangapatti (a gold ornament) is worn along the hairline.

The mangtikki is worn by brides in most parts of the country. It is usually a simple round disc, about an inch across, set with precious stones and is attached to the parting of the hair by a chain. The nose ring, as it is called in English, is only seldom in the shape of a ring. In most places, it is usually a small cluster or gems affixed by means of a screw to the nostril.

For highlighting the eyes, kajal made from the soot of diya (earthen lamp) lit with a wick placed in clarified butter is used. The smoke emitted is collected in an over-turned plate.

The ears are bedecked with the karn phul-a gold ornament with a star of about an inch in diameter, sometimes richly ornamented by precious stones and fixed to the lobe. Jhumka-a bell-shaped ornament made of solid gold usually with a row of tiny beads along its edge-is the favourite among the Bengali, Punjabi, Maharashtrian and Rajput brides. A string of pearls is attached to it and taken behind the earlobe to support the weight of the heavy earring.

The patan (literally, a leaf) is used as a decorative form and worn in any part of the ear except the lobe.

The variety of necklaces is bewildering, and brides, especially the affluent, are seen wearing a series of them of differing lengths. The Punjabis have the rani haar, handed down from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, and consists of pieces of gold attached with a series of chains. The Maharashtrians wear the tanmani, three or four strings of pearls with a central pendant, or the typical path where seven or eight strings of pearls are attached to a central green bead.

The bangle or bracelet is the most significant of ornaments, for bangles are, above all, the visible sign of marriage. The north Indian brides have the chura made of a set of white ivory bangles with red ones at either end. On a thin iron bangle in the front are tied a bunch of kaliras-danglers of thin silver or gold. They are tied by friends and relatives as a blessing to the bride.

Further up the arm is the bazubandh or armlet-a precious stone-adorned semi-circular trinket with skeins at both ends to tie them in place.

The palms are covered with an intricate design of mehendi, and especially in the north, the application of henna is a special ceremony. Traditionally, it was believed that the stronger or darker the colour of the mehendi design, the more the bride's mother-in-law would love her.

Rings, usually of gold, are worn more as a decorative item. There is also the fashion of the arsi or thumb-ring with a mirrored front for the bride to look at herself. Another popular combination in the north is the haath phool. It consists of five rings in all the fingers, joined to a bangle at the wrist with chains from each ring radiating to a medallion encrusted with stones in the centre of the hand, with chains joining the medallion to the bangle.

To keep the sari in place as well as accentuate the bride's slim waist a belt of gold or silver is used. While the Punjabis call it the taragi, the Tamilians use the odianmam to hold their nine-yard sari in place.

The feet are also given as much importance as the rest of the body. The Bengalis color their feet red with alta drawing a thick line along the outer border of the foot and applying a dot above the arch. Anklets are either in the form of simple chains of paizeb-heavy thick rings of silver set with a fringe of small spherical bells that tinkle at every movement of the limb.

Appropriately, the Gujaratis call them jhanjhar or payals.

Finally, the toes are adorned with the anwat (a ring furnished with little bells) or the bichua (rings worn around the toes, and traditionally attached along each side of the foot, to the paizeb at the ankle).

The richly woven gold and red brocade sari which is considered one of the most graceful dresses in the world led poets to write, "it veils the body but does not misrepresent it". The wedding ensemble could be the green nine yard paithan of the Maharashtrians; the maroon and gold-bordered koorap-podavi of the Tamilians; the raunak gold and white one of the Sindhis; the white with red border sanetar of the Gujarati; the rich, Benarasi red saris of the Bengalis and Punjabis; or the kurti, kanchli, ghagra and odhni of the Rajput brides. All these adornments symbolize the day, the most important one in the life of a woman when she goes to her husband in all shyness and modesty.

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