Hindu tradition tells of the wearing of rings in India in very ancient times. The earliest forms used by the Brahmans in their forest life, were woven of kusa-grass (Saccharum spontaneum), and even in our time rings of this kind are worn by those assisting at a religious ceremony, as otherwise the water offered to gods or to the spirits of ancestors will not be accepted. As to metal rings, Hindu law assigns those of gold to the index finger and silver rings to the fourth finger.
A story related in the Hindu epic “Mahabharata” alludes to a trick or magic practice with rings, denominated ishika. A ring was thrown into a deep well and then recovered in some mysterious way after it had seemed to be irrevocably lost. The “Mahabharata” in its present form may date from about 500 A.D. The other great Hindu epic, the Ramayana of Valmiki, written perhaps as early as 500 B.C. even mentions engraved rings. When Sita, wife of Rama, the hero of the poem, is abducted by Rávana, the ten-headed Cinghalese giant, Rama sends a monkey called Hanumán to seek for her, giving him a seal ring as a token. As soon as the monkey succeeds in finding Sita, he approaches her holding out the ring and saying, “Gracious Lady, I am the messenger of Rama. Look, here is his ring engraved with his name.”
In Sanskrit books the following types and kinds of rings are mentioned:[129]
Dwi-hirak (double diamond).—Rings with a diamond on either side and a sapphire in the centre.
Vajra (diamond, thunderbolt).—A triangular finger ornament, with a diamond in the centre and other stones on the sides.
Ravimandal.—A ring with diamonds on the sides and other stones in the middle.
Nandyávarrta.—A four-sided finger ornament studded with precious stones.
Nava-ratna or Navagraha.—A ring on which the nine most precious stones have been set. The nine precious stones in Sanskrit are called: Hirak, Nánikya, Baiduryya, Muktá, Gomed, Bidrum or Prabál, Marakata, Pushpa-rág, and Indranil; or the Diamond, Ruby, Cat’s-eye, Pearl, Zircon, Coral, Emerald, Topaz, and Sapphire.
Bajra-beshtak.—Ring of which the upper circumference is set with diamonds.
Trihirak (triple diamond).—Ring with two small diamonds on the sides and a big one in the centre.