Rajasthani Pair of Knitted Silver Wire Bracelets (Bala)

This very fine pair of bracelets known as bala is of high-grade silver wire that has been knitted into flexible tubes.

Each tube is joined by a pair of silver snub-nosed makara heads with a pull-out closing mechanism between the heads.

Such bracelets were worn in Rajasthan.

The diameters are quite large and it is possible that these were intended to serve as anklets. They might have been used as upper arm bracelets. They are too large to be worn comfortably as bracelets today in a modern setting.

See Untracht (1997, p. 252) for a single bala bracelet.

The pair is in excellent condition.