Traditional Ghungroo Payal with Double Bell Fringe

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.

What you are looking at

This is the anklet most people picture when they hear the word payal. A broad flat band runs the length of the piece, stamped along its whole surface with a repeating pattern of small rosettes, and from its lower edge hang not one but two rows of ghungroo — small hollow domed bells, packed close, staggered so the second row fills the gaps left by the first.

How to wear it

The double fringe is the difference between this and every other anklet here. A single row of bells gives a light tinkle; two rows give the full sound — dense, continuous and audible across a room. That sound is the whole point of a traditional payal, and it is why these were worn by dancers and why a mother can hear a child moving through the house without looking up.

The band itself is substantial, roughly half an inch deep, which means this anklet reads as a piece of jewellery from a distance rather than as a thin line at the ankle. Oxidising drops shadow into the stamped rosettes so the pattern stays legible instead of flattening into a shiny strip.

What it is made of

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.

Be clear about what you are buying: this is a loud anklet. It is wonderful at a festival, a wedding, a garba night or a dance class, and it is genuinely impractical in an office or a quiet room. If you want the look without the volume, the plain chain anklets in this range have spaced bell clusters instead and are a fraction as audible.

At 10.5 inches it sits at the ankle rather than riding up. Wear it where it can be seen and heard — with a saree, a lehenga, a ghagra, or bare ankles in summer.

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.

Care and storage

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.