The Intriguing History of Indian Jewels and Ornaments

India's jewellery, which has a 5,000-year past, is a stunning statement of the nation's artistic and cultural heritage. The modest number of diamonds that have survived from various times and locations of the nation, as well as allusions in literature, gemology publications, myths, folklore, and chronicles, give proof of a world-class tradition.

In India, the past of ornaments is, to a considerable part, the history of the nation.

India was the world's exclusive supplier of gemstones for almost 2,000 years. Kashmir sapphires, Golconda diamonds, and Gulf of Mannar treasures were highly sought, attracting traders from all across the globe. Jewels were a symbol of power, wealth, and status for the monarchs. However, for several Indian women, ornaments were and continue to be viewed as an economic and social safety net, the worth of which would nearly always rise and never fall.

The Indus Valley is where India's love for jewellery began 5,000 years ago.

India was the world's leading maker and exporter of pearls in the era. India was also the origin of the diamond and the creator of the diamond drill, both of which were later handed down to the Roman empire. Agate, Carnelian, turquoise, steatite, faience, and feldspar were employed by the craftspeople of the Indus Valley Civilisation, who fashioned them into the barrel or tubular forms, decorated them with bands, carvings, patterns, and dots, or set them minimally with gold.

The ancient inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilisation were an incredibly intelligent group with a highly refined aesthetic sense reinforced by extensive technical abilities, based on the jewellery they manufactured and wore. Consider the necklace discovered at Mohenjodaro and currently on exhibit in the National Museum's ornament exhibition in Delhi.

A rich profusion of jeweller's craft may be found in the temples of central India, south India, Odisha, and West Bengal.

These elaborate decorations were created purely to beautify the idol. Dancers who entertained temple audiences with their reproductions of religious works, on the other hand, began to wear replicas of the idols' ornament style as time passed. Temple jewellery has become more available as Bharatnatyam got more popular, and it eventually found its way into trousseau and heritage items.

Portraits of various deities in gold are welded to or form the centrepiece on pearl string ornaments in temple jewellery, which is often huge and bulky. Emeralds and shiny rubies are placed in fascinating designs in Tanishq south Indian jewellery, and some pendants are designed to seem like gopurams or temple entry towers. The wearer's particular link with gods and the legendary realm was symbolised by such representative items.

The necklace, which dates back approximately 5,000 years, is studded with pendants of jade beads and banded agate strung by a strong gold thread that runs through a carefully carved hole within every bead.

However, it isn't simply intellectual prowess that one admires. The consistency of style is also noteworthy. The sheet gold forehead adornment, for example, is of a form that ladies in many areas of India continue to wear. The Rajasthani Borla is a close match, as is the jewellery worn prevalently in the centre of Didarganj Yakshi's forehead, among the best illustrations of prehistoric Indian sculpture.

Notwithstanding the items' relative minimalism, Indian jewellery was going to become considerably more intricate in terms of form and technique. The Indian craftsmen had greatly refined their talents in the 2,000 years since Mohenjodaro's demise. On the pendants of a pair of big earrings from this time, there's exquisite lattice design on gold, stamping work, and intricate micro-granulations.

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