Introduction
A bangle is a traditional, hard, circular, wide bracelet made from materials like metal, wood, glass or plastic. Bangles are worn primarily by women, although some men wear them, notably in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asian countries, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
In nations such as India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, bangles are typically worn by married women, although young girls also wear them as fashion. In Hindi and Urdu, it is common to refer to them as ‘Churi’ or ‘Chudi’. In Sikhism, Sikh men and women wear a steel bangle, called ‘kada’, which is one of the articles of faith.
In India, Firozabad is widely known for its indigenous bangles. Firozabad glass bangles have brand recognition, which comes from a legacy of glassmaking that was established long ago and continues to have socio-economic importance today. The mostly male artisanships originated in the Mughal era and have changed from a painstakingly discovered technique that combined silica, sand and fire to today, where there are numerous family-owned workshops and bodies dedicated to the workmanship of bangles. Firozabad glass bangles come in innumerable distinct forms, for example, lacquer-coated, enamel-painted, mirror or stone-studded, and even innovatively crystallized designs.
All different styles encompass not only artistic diversity but also significant cultural meaning inherent to specific life events such as festivals, marriage or rites of passage. The bangles serve as a reminder of the continuity of the past into the present moment, where even fragile glass, if formed carefully, can convey a generation of meaning and memory. The bangles of Firozabad are thus not just a means of livelihood; they provide a rich heritage of culture and complex motifs.
A Historical Tapestry
Firozabad is situated near the city of Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the centre of glassmaking and bangles, known for producing quality bangles and glassware products.
During the Mahajanapadas times, this city was the cultural region of Braj and subsequently ruled by different kingdoms, including, Mauryas, Guptas, Shakas, Kushanas and Indo-Greeks and then the Rajputs, Mughals and Marathas.
The folk history narrates a tale of Raja Todar Mal, who, after completing a pilgrimage to Gaya, made a stop in the village of Asafabad located in south Firozabad. There, he faced looting and disrespect from the local residents. Upon learning of this incident, Emperor Akbar dispatched his commander, a eunuch named Firoz Khawaja, with orders to destroy the city and bring the offenders to justice. However, upon his arrival, the townspeople shared their plight and the ongoing famine with him. Moved by their suffering, he chose to develop the town, leading to the establishment of Firozabad in his honour, where his tomb is also situated.
With the advent of Europeans in India, Peter Mundy, the English traveller, associated with the East India Company, noted his visit to Firozabad, in which he described it as, “Well situated and thriving place, recognized for glassware and local trade”. His remarks suggest that even in the early 17th century, glassmaking was part of the town’s reputation.
Another traveller was Tavernier, who was a French jeweller and traveller, who visited India during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, mentions a hinterland connected with Agra city, famous for its lucrative glass trade.
In the 17th century, British administrator Colonel William Henry Sleeman, in his work ‘Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official’, mentions the bangle markets of Agra and its suburbs, hinting at Firozabad as part of this network supplying glass ornaments to the larger city.
Rustam Ustad and the Evolution of the Bangle Industry
Firozabad’s bangles industry didn’t appear fully formed; it matured through a long, tedious process of co-production between technique, markets and household labour that turned a medieval glass craft into a modern urban cluster.
In colonial decades, rail connectivity and provincial policy widened input and output circuits, consolidating small furnaces and homework into a recognizable bangle economy by the mid-twentieth century. The industry’s distinctive engine has been the participation of local families, where men tended the furnaces and drawing tubes and women and adolescent girls participated in home-based units such as cutting, joining and finishing.
According to popular belief, the true originator of glass bangles was Rustam Ustad (1892-1947), who was affectionately referred to as the Adam of Bangles or ‘Churion ke baba’. He was born in 1892 in the town of Jasrana, located in the Mainpuri district, and moved to Firozabad in 1916. There, he invented the iron rod (belan) for crafting new bangle designs called ‘Bok’ and ‘Duniya do rangi’ in the same year. By the year of 1918, he had developed a new type of bangle known as ‘Reshamchuri’, utilizing the latest techniques. With the advent of independent India, the industry transitioned from coal to natural gas, leading to the modernization of workshops, restructuring of supply chains, and a revival of skill sets to safeguard local livelihoods. This evolution ultimately gave rise to the contemporary glass bangle industry.
The bangle industry thrives not only due to its enduring traditions, but also of its ability to adapt to local needs and household dynamics, driven by market demand, all while preserving the social connections that pass down craftsmanship through generations.
Motifs of Firozabad’s Bangles
Motifs in Firozabad’s bangles are not simply decorative embellishments, they are also a cultural layer of signification, gendered identity, and artisanal creativity, that have accumulated over generations. Historically, bangle makers have used colour, texture and design to develop ornaments that carry a meaning beyond ornamentation, they signal auspiciousness, marriage, and community within Indian society. Among the various designs are the lacquer bangles, which are traditionally deep red or green and worn by brides in North India, which signify fertility and prosperity. Another traditional style is known as churi, with embedded motis, based on the adding of complicated beadwork. This style is particularly known to be used around the major Indian festivals at Diwali and Holi. Often, artisans complete a variety of meenakari inspired glass bangles, highlighting an interchange between glass and India’s extensive craft cultures, they imitate the general look of enamel work by creating multi colored, floral patterns.
What makes these motifs remarkable is the way they are still hand fashioned, each bangle carries the mark of a worker’s breath and hand, whether drawn from molten glass or polished on a crude wheel. Thus, Firozabad’s motifs are not mere patterns; they are lived stories of artisanship, resilience, and cultural continuity, where the shimmer of glass encapsulates both the joy of celebration and the struggles of those who craft them.
The Artisans’ Alchemy: Techniques Behind the Craft
The fabrication of bangles in Firozabad is a potentially multi-dimensional experience that illustrates both the imaginative aspects of artisan labour and the adaptability of work in the face of technological change. The practice of working with glass starts with silica, soda ash and lime dust melted in large furnaces that historically were fired with coal but primarily burn natural gas today for regulatory compliance. Once the glass has been melted, it is formed into long, thin tubes – or locally, called ‘pattas’. These pattas are cooled, cut, and reheated to be formed into circles.
Within this apparently simple cycle, lies a spectrum of techniques, each demanding specialized skill. Male workers, traditionally called ‘bhattisiyas’, control the furnace and the delicate drawing of tubes, where the slightest miscalculation alters thickness and colour. Women and younger workers dominate the ‘ladayi’ and ‘jodai’ stages, that are, cutting the tubes into precise segments, then reheating and welding the ends seamlessly, a task requiring not only dexterity but an almost intuitive grasp of temperature.
Decorative techniques diversify the industry’s aesthetic range, including lacquering, enamel painting, and the embedding of mirrors or stones, all done in small household units attached to workshops. Some workers practice ‘chatai’ (weaving thin threads of coloured glass around the bangle), while others engage in ‘moti’ work (fusing tiny beads into the rim). These techniques are not static. They evolve as artisans experiment with imported dyes, synthetic enamels and low-energy kilns, blending inherited skill with adaptive innovation.
Firozabad in modern times: Innovation and Exploitation
Today, the bangle production industry of Firozabad reflects both traditions of craftsmanship and contradictions of modernism. Almost 400 factories operate in the city, along with innumerable fixed worker households, and the majority of India’s glass bangles comes from this workshop. An economy is built upon this craft and trade for around ten generations and families are connected to some form of bangle craft. Urban consumer habits and practices of globalisation are encouraging the demand and exploration of new colours, synthetic coatings, and polishing through machinery and tools for these bangles. Yet beneath this vibrant surface persists the entrenched problem of child labour, a phenomenon tied less to the tradition than to structural poverty and the home-based character of production. Studies by labour historians such as Anjuli Chandra(2009) have explored how the bangle-making crafts draw children into work as an extension of household practice rather than formal employment, with children often involved from a very young age. They, alongside their mothers, engage in cutting, joining and polishing bangles in dimly lit rooms where high heat and glass dust pose serious health hazards such as eye strain, respiratory illness and burns.
The invisibility of this labour, hidden within domestic spaces and bound to a piece rate system, makes regulations difficult despite the Child Protection Laws in India. The contemporary challenge, therefore, is to reconcile its economic vitality within the rights and dignity of its youngest workers, ensuring the city’s enduring symbol of beauty does not rest upon invisible exploitation.
Conclusion
Therefore, the story of Firozabad’s bangle industry presents a compelling paradox, in which a craft born of medieval courtly patronage and cultivated across centuries of adaptation finds itself articulated by both stability and fragility. It embodies inherited practice, it is anchored in the family through material and embodied memory, and it shows evidence of persistent demand and of markets. Ultimately, however, it feels inaccurate to invoke an image of this industry that is wholly of the past; instead, the craft and the industry embody living, adaptive systems that both have shown remarkable capacity to continuously renegotiate their own ground in the face of changing political, economic and environmental conditions.
That said, there is no doubt that child labour, health risks and low-paid work are structural inequalities found under this celebrated heritage. It would be an act of romanticism to regard the bangle industry as resilient without acknowledging these significant contradictions. Likewise, external pressures like the environmental regulations brought forth changes in transparent relations and enabled this transition to cleaner fuels and substances to make bangles. This example also shows us that transformation is indeed possible, even when painful, given the significant proximity to their livelihoods, while simultaneously being subject to the larger public interest.
Thus, to enter into the territory of Firozabad is to peek into not only a world of bangles, but also a complex and dynamic community negotiating its own continuity and change, beauty and exploitation, artistry and survival simultaneously.
References
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