Silambu is a traditional anklet worn mostly by South Indians. This ornament is referred to in the famous Tamil silapapthigaram, where the story begins and ends with a silmabu. In olden days, both men and women wore a variety of silambu. This can be discovered in most of the Tamil texts. A silambu, worn by a woman, is a hollow circular tube, made of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

, with precious stones or pearls to fill the space, which in turn produce a characteristic sound while walking. Silambus are worn by traditional dancers during performances. This produces a rhythmic, jingling sound in tune with the steps of the dancers.

Lord Shiva

Even, Lord Shiva in his famous dancing pose, nataraja

Nataraja

Nataraja or Nataraj , The Lord of Dance; Tamil: கூத்தன் ;Telugu:నటరాజ is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic dancer Koothan who performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for god Brahma to start the process of creation...

, is found with a silambu on his ankle. Nowadays silambus are made up of silver or copper and are worn by young children, even babies.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, a traditional dance called Kai silambu aatam is performed in temples during Amman festivals in which the dancers wear or hold silambus in their hands, which make noise when shaken.