This gold pendant bead is part of the central piece of a 'thali' or marriage necklace. The most auspicious ornament in a Hindu marriage ceremony is a wedding thali, where the groom ritually ties it around the neck of the bride and sanctifies before a fire. The thali was mentioned in Tamil literature as early as Shunga period (4th-2nd centuries BCE). It has always been worn as a protective amulet by the bride and a symbol of a groom's responsibility towards the family's well-being. Women in troubled marriages or infertile married women donate gold thalis to female deities in hope of attaining their wishes.
