Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

LIFESTYLES

JEWELLERY

gems. As the advancement took place in making of tools, the primi- tive concept and skills rapidly acquired the phase of sophistication. The use of gold in making jewellery really opened up the imagina- tion of man, reaching the height of creativity in applying the concept to expressive form. Indian jewellery has created an aura of charm and grace throughout the world. The heritage of jewellery dates back as early as the Indus Valley culture. The jewellery of Indus Valley people comprised fillets, ribbons, brooches, hair-pins, ear and nose orna- ments, necklaces and pendents, armlets, bracelets and bangles, finger-rings and girdles. Ivory, pottery, gold were used in making jewellery. Fillets and ribbons of gold were worn round the head

The Heritage of Indian Jewellery India is a land of varied cultural affluences, and the meeting point of eastern and western cultural movements. The religious exchanges, political upheavals frequent inversions made her to

both by males and fe- males to keep the hair in position. Brooches were of the shape of ‘8’ and four pointed star. Ear ornaments took the form of but- tons, studs, drops and pendents. The nose- pins in gold consisted of convex discs with cabled border, or plane, cog-well shaped discs threaded by means of a pin. De- pressions on them were

Coiffures: The hair is arranged in Sikha on one head and tied up with lines of pearls, a pendant on the forehead and a coiled jewel piece in the center to complete the beautiful coiffure.

inlaid alternately with lapis lazuli and red stone. Necklaces com- prised beads of one or more shapes strung together with pendent beads or a single pendant made of gold, silver, stone or faience. When there was more than one string, appropriate spacers with terminals at the ends were introduced to control the strands. Arm- lets, bracelets or bangles were found in very large numbers in ter- racotta, shell, stoneware, copper, silver and gold. Besides odd pieces of jewellery, three hoards were found at Mohenjodaro and one at Harappa. The Harappa hoard, which is a representative collection, consists of gold, silver, stone, faience and shell objects. Jewellery in Literature The major breakthrough in the Indian cultural science is the evolution and development of Vedic society. The Vedic society portray the multi-farious growth in the concept of adornment fol- lowed with a dimensional approach in designs and set patterns. The Vedic gods are always described as fully decked with varied kind of jewellery. Rig Veda, the oldest textual sources for the Indian cultural studies make clear references of the terms like Ratna and Vajra. It is to be contended that the extent of Vedas contain compositions of thoughts of an advanced civilisation further strengthens that gems were in use in India from times of antiquity of which can not easily be decipheral. The other works which con- tain the descriptions of gems and jewellery are Kautilya’s Arthasastra, Varahmihira’s Brihat Samhita, Garuda Mahapurana, Skanda Purana, Natyashastra and Abhilashitartha Chintamani. During the medieval times with the growth of regional languages a large member of poetics emerged. The description of the gods; and humans always covered with fabulous ornamentation.

A female figure decked with jewels

absorb the qualitative changes in her long-drawn heritage. As a result the intriguing blend of several cultural elements are suitably convulse into the main stream of deep rooted Indian heritage. From the times of Indus Valley to the contemporary times, certain ele- ments carry the tinge of Indian flavour which made Indian life style a living tradition. The Indianness is strongly expressed through music, dance, theatrical arts, sculpture, architecture, painting, lit- erature, pottery, jewellery, textiles, wood work, metal work and so on. All these art forms have been subject to continuous changes due to the changing religious and philosophical ideologies and the mode of manifestations. These changes obviously seen in the ex- pressive forms of art. Instinct for ornamentation is inherent in human nature and this instinct, universally persists from primitive to modern days. Decorating one’s self, decorating an object of worship, ornamenting the environment is natural instinct, flour- ished in the form of decorative art. Jewellery is one of the very significant aspect of decorative art, reaching the height of applied dimensions,’ subject to continuity and change concerning to the matters of delicacy and refinement. Articles of personal adornment have always caught the imagi- nation of man, practically in all cultures. The earliest articles of adoration were invariably made out of the materials available at the site of cultural development. Wood, ivory, bone, clay and shells were the earliest material used before the discovery of metal and