Manga Mala
മാങ്ങ മാല
Mango-shaped, stone-set — the fertility piece of every Kerala bride.
Manga is mango in Malayalam — the king of fruits, the sign of southern summer, the form to which Kerala has returned for thousands of years in its art, its paisley patterns, its temple architecture. A Manga Mala is a garland of mango-shaped pendants, hand-set with coloured stones, strung between gold beads.
The mango carries the most layered symbolism of any fruit in the Indian tradition. It is the symbol of fertility, of sweetness, of completion, of the female form. To gift a Manga Mala to a bride is to wish her abundance in all of those forms — children, sweetness, fullness, the years of her marriage.
Each mango shape is hammered from gold and then hollowed out for lightness — the heavier the bride's set, the more critical it is that each piece is light enough to wear all day. The stones — usually green or red — are set in the curve of the mango with surrounding granulation work to catch light. The pendants are then strung between small spherical gold beads in a graduated necklace.
The Manga Mala is worn on the muhurtam morning and on the engagement (nichayam) day. It pairs naturally with the Palakka Mala — the leaves and the mangoes layered together — and with the cream of the kasavu.
The mango is Velayudhan's favourite shape to work. He says it is the most generous form — almost any stone setting flatters it. Our long-form Manga Mala, layered with seventy-two stone-set mangoes, has been a steady commission for nearly five decades.