Arm ring
ornamental jewellery worn around the upper arm
An arm ring, also known as an armlet, is a band of metal, usually a precious metal, worn as jewelry or an ornament around the biceps of the upper arm. The arm ring is similar to a bracelet or bangle, though it must be shaped and sized to fit snugly to the upper arm.
In Indonesia, an arm ring is called kelat bahu; it is commonly used by both men and women as traditional jewelry in Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese traditional costumes, worn usually in wedding ceremony or in traditional dance. The decorative arm rings are usually made of metals such as gold, silver, or brass, and can trace their history from the Indonesian Hindu-Buddhist past of ancient Java.
Sri Lankan history notes that brides wore armlets to ward off ill luck. However, the armlet can be more eye-catching when it is made of gold or silver and is studded with gems. Men in ancient Sri Lanka also wore the jewellery, and Kandyan drummers can be seen wearing the jewellery as a tradition even today. Women wear arm rings ('Vangi' in Tamil வங்கி) for special occasions like weddings and the Bharatanatyam dance.
Another similar item of jewellery includes a waistlet; these are sometimes referred to as belts.
Modern-day arm rings are generally fashion accessories worn by women.
“Arm ring” enters the record as ornamental jewellery worn around the upper arm. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what ring, ornamental and jewellery can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4792469. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arm ring” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.