Kautuka

[2][3][4] A kautuka is a woven thread, cord or ribbon, states the Indologist Jan Gonda, which is traditionally believed to be protective or apotropaeic.

[3] The pratisara and kautuka in a ritual thread context appear in the Vedic text Atharvaveda Samhita section 2.11.

[3] An even earlier reference to ritual "red and black" colored thread with a dual function, one of driving away "fiends" and the other "binding of bonds" between the bride and the groom by one's relatives appears in hymn 10.85.28 of the Rigveda, states Gonda.

[3] It is tied to both the bride and the groom, as well as household items such as grinding stone, clay pots and fertility symbols.

[4] In regional Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism such as those found in Maharashtra, the red-colored thread symbolizes Vishnu for men, and Lakshmi for women, states the Indologist Gudrun Bühnemann.

[10] The Shaivism tradition of Hinduism similarly deploys auspicious kautuka (pratisara) threads in puja and consecration rituals.