How to Make a Gajra (Traditional Indian Garland)

by siddharth.91

81K3112

Intro: How to Make a Gajra (Traditional Indian Garland)


A Gajra is a traditional Indian garland that can be used in a variety of ways.
Mostly it tied in women's hair and on door's etc for decoration although 
you can be innovative and use these in any way you like.

Apart from the decorative uses, gajras are also used as offerings in pujas (prayer).

STEP 1: Material

Making a gajra doesnt really require much material.

1.Start with a bunch of flowers adequate for the length of gajra you want to make.
   Traditionally,They are made with paper Mullapoos (paper Jasmine) flowers 
   but any small flowers with short stems should do.

2.Arrange for some thin string.You can experiment with colour but white goes 
   best with the white Mullapoos.

STEP 2:

1.Start with one free end of the string.

2.With the string comfortably on a finger, place two flowers on top of the string
   in opposite directions to each other and perpendicular to the string at the same time.
   Hold this in place with your thumb from the top.

Note- handle flowers carefully as they are very delicate.



STEP 3:

1.loop the string around the flowers as shown.
   Do this twice or thrice for the first knot to give extra strength.

2.With your free fingers, make another loop and pass one of the flowers through it.
   Then pass the free end of the string through the loop and pull to get a knot.


STEP 4:

1.keep adding pairs of flowers to the garland until its as long as you want.

2.Just like the first knot, take extra care with the last knot and tie it tightly.

Dont get discouraged if you don't get it right in the first go.
Although it looks easy it's actually delicate work.
Be patient and keep at it and very soon you'll be making beautiful gajras.



STEP 5:

You're done!

tie the garland up in your hair or decorate your door with it.

Have fun with it!!

12 Comments

Norflox400 8 years ago

Very nicely explained with beautiful pictures.Well done siddharth.Keep it up

rhackney 12 years ago

Where can you buy jasmine in the US? I'm looking to make gajra from paper jasmine flowers.

chandraallen 12 years ago

Also, on the same site, they have premaid gajra! They have gajra hair and decorations on here.

For hair (search here): http://www.vadaamalar.com/indian-dance-wear/dance-accessories/synthetic-flowers.html

For decorations; such as gajra for doors and windows (search here): http://www.vadaamalar.com/home-decor/door-and-window-hangings.html

chandraallen 12 years ago

Don't buy real jasmine! Buy artificial flowers because they last forever! Buy from here:

http://www.vadaamalar.com/jasmine-flowers.html

My mom makes gajra all the time! I bought these, and a few others, for her and she loved it! They ship on time and the flowers work just as good as real flowers! Good luck!

julieramos23 12 years ago

its beautiful! thanks for posting! Excellent instruction. :)

supersoftdrink 13 years ago

Thanks for posting this! It's lovely. My best friend had something like this (but hers was made with carnations, I think) for her traditional hindu wedding. I only remember it because the florist didn't deliver it the morning of her wedding and her dad had to drive two hours away to pick one up because it was necessary for the ceremony.

siddharth.91 13 years ago

save daddy some trouble next time now that you know how to make them !
:)

insomniaSAH 13 years ago

These are beautiful!

Are there seasonal garlands?

siddharth.91 13 years ago

yes they're beautiful :)
these are available the whole year round here in india.

MARCELOBOY46 13 years ago

there are not from india, there from my country phillipines we called them {sampaguita] or mayflower those fuking india just stole it on our land lol
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siddharth.91 13 years ago

hi there!
i didnt really know where the flowers were originally from.
so i decided to research.

quoting from wikipedia,

"Jasminum sambac (syn. Nyctanthes sambac) is a species of jasmine native to southwestern and southern Asia, in the Philippines, india, Myanmar and Sri Lanka
Common names include Arabian Jasmine, Full (فل) (Arabic), Bel/Beli (বেলীফুল, Bengali), Mogra (Hindi and Marathi), Mallikā (Sanskrit), Kampupot, Melati putih (Malay and Indonesian Language), Sampaguita (Filipino) Kampupot (Tagalog), Mallepuvvu (Telugu), Mallikaipu (Tamil),"

yes :)
so they're native to Philippines and india both.

and how does that matter anyway in the first place??
just make them and have fun!

peace.