The exact origins of this custom are shrouded in mystery. Some anthropologists feel that the rings were added to protect a woman from tiger attacks, which were quite common in that area. While, others feel that they were added to enhance a woman's beauty, adding grace to her form. The rings add about 22kgs to a women's weight. The rings are meticulously cleaned every now and then with tamarind juice to make them shiny. Though the women appear to have a long neck, the real fact is that their shoulder bones have been pushed back. Thereby, giving an appearance of a long neck. The Padaung themselves, consider these rings as a sign of beauty. The rings are reflective of a woman's social status. The rings are first added when a girl is five years of age. Successive rings would be added every two years. The rings are intended to be worn throughout the life of the padaung women. Removal of these rings later in life would cause death as the neck muscles would be unable to support the weight of the head. This would cause suffocation. Adultery was thus punished in Padaung Society.
This tradition is kept alive today by the tourism industry. Just by displaying the rings around her neck, a Padaung woman can earn in a day what she earns in month doing traditional jobs. This is ,increasingly, drawing criticism from human rights activists and anthropologists who call this a "human zoo". There are also allegations of Thai businessmen virtually kidnapping these people to put up human "zoos" these zoos are used to generate money.
Besides, modern Padaung women themselves are refusing to put these rings to their daughters. The tradition, not unlike so many traditions around the world is at the crossroads- that of survival and extinction.
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