Oxidised Daisy Bead Payal

Payal is simply the Hindi word for an anklet, and in most of India it is still the first piece of jewellery a girl is given and the last an older woman takes off. It is worn as a pair, one on each ankle, and traditionally it was meant to be heard as much as seen — the sound announced that someone was coming, which in a joint household was a courtesy rather than a performance.

The design

The flowers on this anklet are flat five-petal daisies, each petal a separate rounded lobe and the centre a small disc left dark from the oxidising so it reads as the eye of the flower. They are spaced along the strand with two kinds of bead between them: small plain rounds, and short fluted barrels ribbed around their circumference.

That alternation of three elements — flower, round, fluted barrel — is what gives the piece its rhythm. A strand of identical beads reads as a texture and nothing more; a repeating sequence of three gives the eye a pattern to follow along the length of the ankle, which is a surprising amount of design for something at this price.

The flowers lie flat along the strand rather than standing proud of it, so nothing projects, nothing catches on a sock or a sandal strap, and the anklet sits close. It is also completely silent — there are no bells anywhere on it.

Materials used

German silver is the trade name for a bright white alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. It contains no silver at all. What it does have is a hard, cool-toned surface that takes an oxidised finish well and resists scratching better than plated brass, which is why almost every everyday Indian anklet is made to look like it.

How to wear it

This is one of the two or three anklets here cheap enough to buy without thinking and interesting enough to keep wearing. The daisy is about as neutral a motif as Indian metalwork has: it carries no particular meaning, belongs to no particular region, and will not look out of place with a saree, a kurta or jeans.

A note on wearing a pair rather than one. Single anklets have become common and there is nothing wrong with wearing one, but a pair sits differently: the two sounds fall slightly out of step as you walk, which is what produces the soft irregular jingle people associate with payal rather than a single repeating note.

Keeping it looking right

An anklet lives a harder life than any other piece of jewellery. It meets shoes, floors, door frames and bedsheets, and it is the piece most likely to be worn into the shower because taking it off is a nuisance. Water is what dulls an oxidised finish fastest, so slip it off before bathing where you can. A dry soft cloth is the whole cleaning routine — never a silver polish or a dip, which strip the blackening the design depends on.