Jewellery is part of an Tamil woman's identity. Women generally wear bangles, nose rings, mangal-sutra, chains, anklets and toe rings, as dancer Urmila says in this post here. Bless you, my heart. The shell bangles slip from my wasting hands. My eyes, sleepless for days, are muddied. Kurunthogai poetry Her waist is [...]
Early humans used primarily flowers, seeds, branches and animal parts for ornaments. Later, through a magico-religious process, they discovered that these same ornaments could be used as amulets. This ancient Arabic proverb conjures up human caution. Born of fear, we sought protection. Amulets. The notion of the evil [...]
As you will see, the range of answers is staggering. Jewels are not merely gems and metal. They are carriers of memory, keepers of identity, and markers of life’s most cherished moments. Being a Rajasthani Baniya, my grandmother was adorned in a chaniya choli. Head covered. Tattooed around the [...]
Imagine if you are an ancient jewellery designer. Like all creative folks, you take inspiration from nature– from things that surround you. You live close to land and water so you draw from flowers, fruits, trees, birds, animals and sea animals. The question is: which flora or fauna do you pick? For all kinds [...]
The image on top is a vajra flaying knife from 15th century Tibet. The vajra comes out of the mouth of a makara. An object of beauty for that darkest of purposes: to kill The cap of the pendant takes the form of [...]
"The range of jewellery available in India in terms of materials used, designs and techniques of craftsmanship is unparalleled," says author and jewellery expert Usha Balakrishnan. She gives examples. The Nagas make jewellery using beetle wings, feathers and bones. Bengalis use conch shells for their bangles. Andhra brides adorn their braids with the [...]
To create this stunning kavacha requires a flight of the imagination. You have to imagine this beautiful body and then sculpt it in that most elastic (and fragile) of materials: gold. Creativity requires many things, but imagination is key. To connect disparate things, to see what others cannot see. [...]
Jewellery memories as a child? What my beautiful mother possessed-- which was not very much! I now own and wear her simple mangalsutra, and the four gold bangles I was given when I turned 18. My father was a bureaucrat and retired as Additional Law Secretary, Government of India. [...]
Jewellery!!! It’s never enough . I have never heard anyone saying in my family we have enough. They literally find excuses to buy more. Because it’s easily transferred from one generation to other and it is the most transformative thing we can wear. [...]
What are your memories of jewellery growing up? My childhood memories are like a bouquet of sensory perceptions and jewellery features quite prominently in them. I recall the sound of my mother’s gold and glass bangles clinking delicately, the gentle rustle of her silk ‘pallu’, as she opened the iron almirah that [...]