An anklet, also called ankle chain or ankle bracelet, is an ornament worn around the ankle. Barefoot anklets and toe rings historically have been worn for centuries by girls and women in India. In the United States both casual and more formal anklets became fashionable in the late twentieth century. While in western popular culture both younger men and women may wear casual leather anklets, they are popular among barefoot women. Formal anklets (of silver, gold, or beads) are used by some women as fashion jewelry. Anklets are an important piece of jewelry in Indian marriages worn along with saris.
Much more rarely, an ankle chain is joined by a stretch of chain to limit the step. This practice was once more prevalent in the South East Asia, where the effect was to give a 'feminine' short tripping step. Today a few western women follow this practice, but rarely in public. Very few people even have 'permanent', e.g. soldered-on, ankle chains, and more rarely still, so is the connecting chain.
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Bronze anklets are visible as early as the Bronze Age in temperate Europe, in an area roughly along the Danube, in the Alpine foreland, up the Rhine to the Atlantic, and also down the Rhône (Sherratt, 2001). These were found among hoards in these areas, along with other bronze items characteristic of this time (c. 1800 BCE onwards), and are attributable to the Tumulus culture that spread across this region.
A first-century CE epic of Tamil literature called Cilappatikaram ("The story of the anklet") dealt with a woman whose husband was killed while trying to sell one of her anklets to a dishonest goldsmith. The anklets are described in great detail in the poem.
Rajasthani women wear the heaviest type of anklets, they are silver and signify tribals adherence. The women wear this for costume jewelry but also to show their bravery as a tribe against other rival tribes. The fashion for heavy anklets is declining in India now but is still common in the rural areas.
The word jhangheer is a word for the anklet in Hindi and Punjabi. Jhangheer means chains. This is significant in that the anklet was a chain the woman wore in her marriage. Some of the anklets were heavy and difficult to walk in. The woman was reminded she was in chains and her husband her owner.
Anklets can be made of silver, gold, and other less precious metals as well as leather, plastic, nylon and other such materials. In the western world anklets or ankle chains are mainly worn by younger females, but some older women also wear them.
Metal anklets are of two types - flexible and inflexible. The flexible ones, often called paayal, pajeb or jhanjhar in India, are made by tying links in a chain. Subsequently, sonorous bells can be attached to the chain, so that the wearer can make pleasing sounds while walking. Inflexible ones are usually created by giving shape to a flat metal sheet.
The sound was also a reminder for people that there was a woman around, during the times of Purdah.
Within the cuckold and hotwife sexual subcultures, the anklet is worn as indicate of participation in said.[1]
Salangai or Ghunghru are small bells that bharatnatyam, kathak, kuchipudi, and odissi dancers tie around their ankles.
In India, anklets are worn on both ankles. However, outside India most anklets seem to be worn on the right ankle. Perhaps this is due to more people being right-handed. Although in eastern cultures, anklets are worn on both ankles.
Scuba divers sometimes wear lead anklets to stop a tendency for their legs to float up when diving in a drysuit.[2]
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