Welcome to Jewels of India:
a website that celebrates the magnificent diversity of Indian adornments.
Jewellery inhabited India before there was an India. Before we were a nation. And before we were called Hindustan, or Jambudvipa, or Bharathavarsha, or even the earlier Aryavartha in the North and Dravida in the South.
Jewellery inhabited India before we were India.
After all, the urge to adorn is primitive.
If you peel back the mists of time, you will find this to be a land of gems.
Where men and women used the generosity of the earth to create ornaments.
It goes back to the Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro.
Look at her.
Look at the insouciance with which she is standing, arms akimbo.
Notice though that her clothes are barely there.
But jewels she has aplenty.
Bangles on her arms. A necklace made of flowers.
Before there were clothes, there was jewellery.
This website was born of this urge to ornament, this impulse to adorn.
We aim to be a platform that showcases and celebrates India’s jewellery traditions.
We hope that you fall in love with the Jewels of India all over again.
We hope that you buy objects of adornment for yourself and your children.
We hope that you gain a new understanding of, and respect for the craftspeople behind those beautiful jewels that you own.
And we hope that you won’t question why the “making charges are so high,” the next time you buy jewellery.
Because you see, making charges symbolize the human hand.
And it is the human touch in these embellishments that elevate it to a craft. Or even art.
Jewels of India is supported by Tanishq and we are grateful for their support.
The content is brand-agnostic and focuses on the craft and the artisans. It is a way of giving back.
Thanks go out to these gems within Tanishq.
Ajoy Chawla for starting it all.
Deepika Tewari for flagging it off.
Isha Sapra and Ru Chatterji for their sensitive and helpful coordination, facilitation, and key inputs.
Revathi Kant and Abhishek Rastogi for their knowledge and understanding of the design process behind the pieces.
Sunil Raj for connections all over India– to the karigars, achaaris, people on the ground.
Thanks also go out to these gems outside Tanishq.
Ulhas Anand, for the website design and maintenance. Among other things, Ulhas organizes Bengaluru Bird Day and runs EcoEdu, for environmental education.
Red Bangle Film Collaborative, specifically its founder, Lakshmi Rebecca and Shibani Naidu for the films.
Adrian Raj for the logo design.
I make the shorter amateur films while Red Bangle makes the main films on top of the Youtube page of each edition.
Welcome to the unparalleled heritage that are the Jewels of India. We are delighted you have chosen to visit us. May your tribe increase! Contact us by emailing us at [email protected]
Thank you for your support.
Shoba Narayan
Founder/Anchor
