Jewellery

Jewellery is the art perfected by every Indian for it is not worn as an accessory, but as an ensemble.One can witness the finesse in the figurine of the dancing girl of Harappa, adorned all over with jewellery .It is an archaeological evidence for the popularity and great usage of jewellery in the ancient times. Similarly the sculptures from the Gandhara and Gupta periods reflect the richly ornamented stlye with various kinds of jewellery.

Ancient eras have displayed the, primitive forms of jewellery like necklaces of pierced seeds, shells and pebbles,which have been a symbol of protective powers and religious affiliations. The simple wooden ornaments like strings of 'rudraksha' beads (reddish brown knobbly berries from the 'rudraksha' tree) and 'tulsi' beads (rosaries created from the stems of the sacred basil) still provide adornment for ascetics and holy men.

India is a wealthhouse of gold, silver and precious and semi-precious gems and hence invariably a veritable treasure house of traditional and distinctive artistic jewellery . Each part of India has its own unique stamp on the jewellery items like gemstone ornaments of Jaipur; exquisite pearl jewellery of Hyderabad; silver jewellery of Western India and gold craft of the south. Jewellery in India is not only an essential part of it innate life but also for beauty.

The rural and the urban jewellery differs in its basic concept .While folk jewellery of India is full of heavy, chunky ornaments in silver, the urbanities prefer adornments which are more refined and are delicately crafted in gold and silver. City jewellers use various techniques like repousse, chase, filigree, embossing and enamelling to add to the sophistication and appeal to jewellery designs. Film stars are the best examples for the dispaly of both types of jewellery.

Weddings in India is never complete without the tradition of gifting the women of the family gold jewellery.Maybe dowry is not being praticed today but still the father will have to gift his daughter many tolas of gold jewellery as a token gesture of love. The stuff rolls in from both her parents and her in-laws. The logic is simple. Apart from the obvious purpose of ornamentation, the jewellery is her safeguard against the proverbial rainy day. Bereft of an income of her own, she can trade in her jewellery as and when the need arises. It is a different issue that most of the times she is never able to claim it as her own.
But this is not to say that the Indian woman does not like her ornaments well-crafted. After all, jewellery is meant to beautify and the Indian woman will be damned if she wears anything that isn’t nicely enough done. Every market in India has its own share of gold and silversmiths. While gold jewellery is pretty much a favourite with the rich and the affluent, village belles swear by silver.now a days even the town and city gals are falling for the silver trinkets.
Wait Indian male is not to left out for thay too love to donne certain jewellery like earrings and bracelets, Indian men have been flaunting their baubles, and looking terribly macho in them too. And to remember that this was much before the West came up with the theory of even males having a femine side to the persona.

Here then is what you can expect from the great Indian jewellery bazaar.

Gems:- India is a treasure house of good quality diamond or emerald. India is just the place for one to end their search of these precious stones. What’s more, if one believes in the occult, they can even find jyotshis (palmists and astrologers) to find out their lucky stone. Also they will provide forcasts of the evil and bad luck that is going to befall one.Some of the good buys here are emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, amethysts, corals and turquoise. Jaipur and Calcutta has artisans who have perfected the art of cutting the stone to perfection so that all the gleaming facets have been retained in the stone.

Gold:- Weddings in India are never complete without the tradition of gifting the women of the family gold jewellery.Maybe dowry is not being praticed today but still the father will have to gift his daughter many tolas of gold jewellery as a token gesture of love. The stuff rolls in from both her parents and her in-laws. The logic is simple. Apart from the obvious purpose of ornamentation, the jewellery is her safeguard against the proverbial rainy day. Bereft of an income of her own, she can trade in her jewellery as and when the need arises. It is a different issue that most of the times she is never able to claim it as her own.While gold jewellery is pretty much a favourite with the rich and the affluent. Having said that while the rich stick to gold, while those who can’t afford it have no choice but to go with silver; let us add that this is not true for South India. The women of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra are great sticklers for gold. This shiny metal is considered auspicious, not to mention a status symbol. Even the humblest bride down south has some gold in her trousseau.
Handcrafted gold jewellery is still very much the norm though machine-made trinkets are fast catching on. The major difference between the jewellery of north and south India is in the detail, delicacy and motifs. While north Indians think small is beautiful, south Indians certainly believe that size does matter.

Kundan:- Jaipur is also welknown for 'Kundan' which is another much-acclaimed decorative technique for jewellery. This style is all about stone setting in which small pieces of gemstones are encrusted on the surrounding metal. Jaipuri, Kundan combined with enamelling creates the most bewitching range of jewellery that attracts both Indian and foreign visitors alike. States like Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are important centres for attractive filigree work that involves making of lacy trellis with twisted silver wire. Delhi, Jaipur and Udaipur are famous for the age-old technique of setting gems in gold called Kundan. It is the Mughal-inspired art of setting precious stones like diamonds, emeralds and rubies in gold and silver. Gems are bedded in a surround of gold leaf rather than secured by a rim or claw.

Meenakari:-Minakari is the unique Jaipuri stlye of the enamelling which involves fixing or fusing differently coloured glazes onto the surface of the metal. The exotic 'Minakari' - the lacquer enamelled work combined with carvings on gold and silver, is a renowned speciality of Jaipur's enamelling. Enamelling or meenakari was originally meant to protect gold, which in its pure state is so soft and malleable that it can easily wear away. However, the technique soon came to be used for all sorts of objet d’arts. Now before you ask, enamelling is a champleve technique, which in simple English means that a recess is hollowed out in the surface of gold or silver to take in a mineral. For example, cobalt oxide, which gives a blue colour, is then fired into the depression so as to leave a thin line separating the segments of colour. The patterns are usually floral and coloured in red, green and blue and can be seen on small jewellery and kumkum boxes.

Silver:- The one sure-shot way to tell if a woman comes from rural India is to check out her jewellery. Chances are she’ll be togged up from head to toe in cumbersome silver ornaments, which she never removes. The various kinds of adornments are: tikka or the spherical pendant for the forhead; dangling earrings called jhumkas; hansli or the choker; nath or the nosering which may be attached with a chain to the adjacent jhumka; a girdle or taqri for the waist; a series of bracelets called kadas; anklets with tiny bells on them; and finally the chakti or toe rings of the married women. Not to be outdone, the mustachioed men of Rajasthan commonly wear chokers, earrings and bracelets too.
The designs are a lovely blend of Hindu and Islamic styles, as are the karigars (craftsmen) who may be Hindu or Muslim. Silver jewellery with ornate tribal designs is a big hit too. A relatively new addition to the repertoire is silver studded with semi-precious stones. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal and Ladakh are the most happening centres of silver jewellery.

Threads, Beads & Cowries:- The intricate and artistic twisting of thread is itself seen as an embellishment by the tribal communities of India. They often weave cotton thread into a broad band as a textured or patterned base, then loop through buttons, beads, metallic droplets or whatever catches their fancy. Beads, shells, cowries and feathers are simple but amazingly creative means to adorn the body beautiful. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and the northeastern states of Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram top the list of makers of such jewellery.

Shellac Bangles: Brightly coloured lac bangles are a gay and inexpensive buy in Delhi and Rajasthan. In the pink city of Jaipur, lac trinkets are a common sight in every bazaar. Check out the dazzling bangles, often studded with glass gems, spirals of base-metal wire amid a wavy striping of other colours.

Special Shopping Destinations:
Jaipur (Rajasthan), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)