In India jewellery is not just a piece of ornament to enhance one’s beauty. It is a part of the Indian tradition and culture aka ‘Riti Riwaz’. In the Indian culture jewellery plays a symbolic role especially after women’s marriage and most of it is associated with good health and well-being of the husband and his family.
One such tradition that is popular in Hindu and Muslim communities alike is wearing a toe ring or bichiya after marriage. This tradition dates back to the vedic times and generation after generation women have been told that if married women don’t wear bichiya then it can adversely affect the husband’s health and also bring financial adversities to the family.
When I got married, I was told the same. The same fear was being instilled in my heart. However, I am one who firmly believes that our vedas are the richest and the most advanced knowledge resource that we can ever have. And if some tradition dates back to that era then there has to be a scientific validation to it. So before following the tradition, I checked Google and realised that each and every Indian tradition which is now named as superstitious or orthodox has a scientific reason behind it. And if it doesn’t have a scientific reason then it doesn’t belong to our vedic times. They are simple fears used in favour of a particular section of the society.
Wearing toe-ring in the 2nd and 3rd toe has a scientific reason behind it. It is believed that there is a network of nerves that start from the brain, carries the hormones from the pituitary gland to the uterus and it extends downward till the toe. Wearing toe rings regulates the blood flow and the supply of hormones to the uterus thus enhancing fertility and uterus health of women. It helps the married women get pregnant easily without any troubles. Wearing toe rings helps the married ladies in keeping their monthly cycle regulated.
You must be wondering if menstrual cycles didn’t matter to the unmarried girls. But there are instances where unmarried girls used to wear toe ring in the 3rd toe to ease the menstrual pain.
There is an astrological connect also. Do you know that moon takes almost 28 days to orbit around the earth and it is exactly the same as the period of menstrual cycle. I am not going in further details but if you are interested, you can read about it here. Silver is also said to be the conductor of coolness, hence, wearing them in feet helps the women to remain calm and feel fresh.
Having said all of that, a toe ring doesn’t have curative properties. It is just a preventive measure adopted by our ancestors. There is no evidence that not wearing a toe ring would necessarily mean pregnancy issues or attract bad omen. So if you are not comfortable in wearing a toe ring and it hurts you, then you better do away with it.
But be informed before you CHOOSE to wear toe rings. Don’t curse the institution of marriage for making you wear all of that. Once, you have made a choice, wear it wholeheartedly and believe in the science behind it.
This blog post is part of the blog challenge’Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted byCindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla,and generously SPONSORED BY Bugshield Clothing – Enjoy Outdoors More!
Supriti, glad you wrote this. I love wearing a toe-ring and i get a lot of flak for doing so. I don’t know if the scientific reason works, but i love how it looks on my feet.
Absolutely. To each their own choice. Glad u love yours. 🙂
I have read a book in Marathi which explains the reasons behind many practices. Read about Toe Ring in that book and it is pretty justifying. I have always been curious to know the reason behind these practices. Infant it also tells why we wear nose pin.
You mentioned about moon takes almost 28 days to orbit around the earth and it is exactly the same as the period of menstrual cycle, it reminds of another book which is written taking Lunar Cycle and Menstruation as the base and explained the days and its calculation. It is a great book to explain the whole concept to this generation kids.
Wow.. can u please share the name of the book? Would love to read it, if there is english translation available. Please share the name of both the books. I love digging into such books.
Great! Such an informative article! Even I am a person who firmly believes that there is absolute rationality behind every do mention in our Veda. This fact about toe ring enhanced my knowledge. Thanks for sharing it. I really feel proud of our Veda.
Glad u found it informative. Thanks a lot. 🙂
Every piece of jewelry we wear had a scientific reason behind it. But again it’s up-to an individual how comfortable they are in wearing them.
Very true.
Yes, even I heard this reason. Very valid isn’t it?
True.
It is said there is a reason behind every ornament an Indian woman wears after marriage, and I feel we do not attract any bad omen if we don’t choose to wear one. I have seen many unmarried girls wearing toe-ring. So I feel a few things are more scientific and then we attach rituals to it. Great post Supriti.
Absolutely. While following few traditions can be beneficial… not following them would not bring any bad luck. So be rationale in whatever you chose to follow. 🙂
I totally agree that the choice should lie with one. And whatever choice one make, they must be happy with it. I don’t wear toe rings because when I got married, I had a corporate job. Iam most comfortable in trousers and hence use to be dressed in western formals most days which also meant closed shoes. The toe ring wasn’t very comfortable. And for some strange reason silver toe ring on my feet would make it swell. I am not allergic to silver jewellery otherwise and infact prefer it to gold. So now I wear it only during important pujas and have a couple of sets made of other metal as well.
Every one has a different body and most girls find toe rings uncomfortable. Wearing them with closed toe bellies is another pain, so i can absolutely relate to it. 🙂
Very true! You should follow the traditions but blindly or because it has been followed by everyone it should be a personal choice and if one chooses to follow it, it should be done wholeheartedly. I personally do not wear toe rings as I find them uncomfortable.
Absolutely. If something is uncomfortable it should not be followed.
Thanks for this information about toe rings. I knew there must be a reason for this riwaz but never tried to find out. Now I know thanks to your blog post 🙂 Will share the info further.
Thank you so much Ma’am. 🙂
I knew half but not the full reasons. but you have explained it really well.
Thanks ☺
I didn’t know the scientific reason behind this. Though Bengali married women don’t wear toe rings. So I never wore them. Our Vedas are rich and full with interesting and useful knowledge. Thanks for sharing this information.
Thanks a lot for reading through ☺
I love to wear toe rings they look great. I agree with you that there is a significance of all the rituals in our Vedic texts if not mentioned then it’s not a real one.
Absolutely ☺
Most of the traditions have a scientific reason behind them. But over the years, people have forgotten them. I was aware of the reason behind wearing a bichiya but it was great to read your detailed post.
Thanks a lot ☺
Very interesting!! And true that about nerves pressure points..
Thanks a lot ☺
I didn’t know unmarried girls wear toe rings too. I haven’t seen any. There is a scientific reason for most jewelry and the kind of metal used in the jewelry. And I completely agree that one should follow a tradition if one is comfortable, not by force.
Thanks ☺
I personally do not like or wear toe rings since I find them uncomfortable..
Yes some rituals indeed are scientific by nature so we can totally accept it 🙂 thankyou so much for sharing !!
Thanks a lot ☺
It’s an amazing fact… I have never heard of this fact earlier……
Thanks ☺
I really felt good after reading it because I am the person who loves reading rituals. I was aware about the 28 days, but I never heard that it is related to menstrual cycle.
Glad u enjoyed 😀
I thoroughly enjoy reading such pieces. Our vedas have so many amazing things which people kept misunderstanding and changed the whole reason behind those into some artificial show offs.
Absolutely. Glad u enjoyed ☺
This is such an informative article! I am not a superstitious person but i absolutely believe there is some scientific reasing behind all traditions.This fact about toe ring enhanced my knowledge.
Thanks ☺
Such an informative article. Yes, I do love toe-ring but somehow they always hurt me. I try and wear them whenever I can. I love jewellery but somehow I am not able to wear them for long.
Thank u 🙂
Rightly said, if it doesn’t have scientific reasons it doesn’t belong to our Vedic Teachings.
Toe-rings become integral part of the ornaments a women wears after marriage. I absolutely love the writeup explaining its importance to your readers. Thanks for sharing the post!
Thanks a lot. 🙂
I love toe rings but they often get entangled in clothing.
I was aware about a deeper logic to most Indian traditions but this was an extremely interesting read.
thank u so much. 🙂
I absolutely love wearing them. In fact I’m crazy about new designs that I also keep collecting them to match my attire.
wow.. amazing. 🙂
Absolutely with you on the power of Vedas and the scientific reasons behind everything we are asked to follow. But I still has problem with is people passing it on as rituals rather than explaining the why of it… had our ancestors done that too… we wud have been in a happy space
u said it all.. Lets pass on the knowledge to the next generation.