Sacred Red Thread Mauli Kalawa Hindu Religious Cotton Wrist Band Roll Pooja moli

Kalava is the sacred Hindu thread also called mauli or charadu in Hindi. It is tied by a priest on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony. The Kalava is tied on right hand of males and unmarried females, and on left hand of married females. Cotton strings in form of yarn in full red are most common as is red with small bits of yellow, however, other dye combination exist. It sometimes has knots which are tied up while reciting Sanskrit mantras to invoke Brahman and is worn to ward off evil from the person who wears this red thread. In Hinduism 's many scripts have many religious stories about "Kalava" In the Mahabharata, Dropadi tied a Kalava on right hand of Abhimanyu before his last day of war for divine protection. He was not defeated by many warriors as long as he wore the "Kalava" on his right hand. Lord Krishna wanted his death, as Dropadi was evil in his previous life. Krishna thus sent a mouse to cut his Kalava and soon after, Abhimanyu was killed. Another legend has it that Lord Vishnu during his incarnation as Vamana tied a red thread on the hands of King Bali to grant him immortality and to rule the netherworld.