Paranda hair ornaments

Braid and drawstring

A paranda adds decorated threads to a braid. Asia InCH’s craft account distinguishes this hair ornament from the nala, the drawstring supporting a salwar, pajama or gathered skirt. Both can include decorative ends, but they occupy different places and perform different jobs. The account describes twisting and twining threads into a net-like structure for the nala. This is a useful distinction when looking at craft descriptions: a technique given for the waist string should not automatically become the explanation of a hair ornament. Its account also connects handmade drawstrings with traders in Patiala’s Qilla Chowk.[3]

Joining the strands

Sonal Gupta’s IIT Bombay resource documents parandi making with three strands and a decorative lower part. A hooked wooden or metal support, called a thullu, holds the threads; combing removes tangles before the strands are joined. The tassels can be fixed to the upper part or made detachable. In the latter form, small dodi attachments hold the separate decorative components. Gupta describes a loop, a conical part and the open flower-like end of the tassel. Detachment allows the upper braid and lower ornament to be separated, and different tassels can be used with the same upper section. These are design choices recorded in the resource, rather than a single compulsory form. Scissors cut the threads to the required lengths.[1]

Two workshop settings

Gupta’s maker account names Neelam Kumar Khanna, his son Mukesh and craftsman Raghveer Singh in Patiala. It places design experimentation within a particular family workshop.[1]

A separate study by Wardah Naeem Bukhari and Shahida Manzoor identifies Ustad Ramzan, Ustad Sajad and Ustad Kamran in photographs of paranda work at Multan’s Sarafa Bazar, dated 20 August 2010. The article also records an interview with Kamran in 2018.[2]