Kalava(mauli)-sacred hindu thread

A "Kalava" is the sacred Hindu thread also called 'mauli' in hindi. It is worn while performing Hindu rituals like Yajna or Puja. It is tied by a priest on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony. Kalava is tied on right hand of males and unmarried females, and on left hand of married females. Sometimes it has small yellow parts in between the mostly red string. It sometimes has knots which are tied up while reciting Sanskrit mantras to invoke God and is worn to ward off evil from the person who wears this red thread.

It is called also rakshasutra or charadu and has the blessing of the deity in a temple. The thread is tied after blessings of the deity and special pujas in a temple or sacred place. Different colors of thread are used like red, yellow, black and orange.

In North India, it is believed that the red thread brings fame, power and saves from evil.

When a person ties the red thread – Brahma blesses the person with fame, Vishnu bless the person with power and Shiva saves him from all evil.

In South India, people tie yellow, red, orange and black color threads.

Black color is believed to protect a person from all evil. It is also tied to overcome fear.

Threads is South India are mostly associated with Goddess Shakti temples especially Mariamman, Devi and Bhadrakali.