Jewellery in ancient India
Jewellery is worn by all, irrespective of social status or wealth, in India. The essence of India is truly expressed in its style, its craft, its sensibility, belief, rituals and customs. For a country that is geographically, historically and culturally diverse, its jewellery has perhaps, been the only unifying factor.
In India, like other human cultures of the world, jewellery was the earliest art form fashioned by man. Jewellery communicated messages of love, hate, power, hierarchy, marriage, widowhood etc. Gold and jewels came to be associated with the four aspects of life that concerned mankind - power, health, wealth and religion.
Individual items of jewellery, in classical Indian literature, were integral to a plot or served as a link in the story line. In Ramayana, for example, on Sita's wedding day, her father King Janaka presented her the head ornament (Chudamani) that he himself had received from Kubera, the god of wealth, which she later sent to Rama, through Hanuman, to confirm their meeting.
India was a principal production centre for beads by 3000 B.C. The origin of the simple black bead goes back to the 7th millennium B.C. To this day the lowly bead is yet the most auspicious ornament a mother gives her daughter. Lapis lazuli, turquoise, coral, carnelian, jasper and a variety of semi precious hard stones were imported from Indus valley cities of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal where they were cut shaped and bored and re-exported to destinations beyond India.
Mention of treasures and gold in the Vedas compensates absence of material remains between 1500-500 B.C. In Vedic times the custom of exchanging jewels at weddings was also prevalent. India was the principal supplier of diamond and precious gems by 1st century A.D. The Kushan Empire encompassed a very vast area in which immense sophistication thrived.
The Gupta period (circa A.D.320-600) is marked to have wealth and quality of court life than any other period in Indian history. Jewellery forms on sculptures have been seen to become more stereotypical and stylised, from the post-Gupta Era.
In ancient India, South India was repository of much of the mineral wealth in the country. In the 2nd century the town of Madurai was one of the principal gem markets. The ancient dynasties of the South amassed immense wealth and lavished it with unrivalled profligacy.
The Cholas acquired their wealth through military conquests and held a monopoly over the gold mines and the pearl fisheries and gems of Ceylon. There was very little infliction of the Mughal culture despite their continuous invasion into the south.
Kautilya (4th century B.C) declared that the trade route across Dakshinapathaka was the "superior route" for it was rich in mines and had abundant 'diamond, rubies, pearls and gold.' Jewellery in southern India did not evolve in response to changing India, more than any other part of country
The treasure of the Mughal Emperors augmented the treasures by appropriating the wealth of the Indian states by military conquest The imperial treasury included items diverse as one thousand saddles of gold and drinking cups carved with rubies and emerald, over two thousand jewelled broaches for the hair and infinite numbers of diamond and pearl chains. The list was so exhausting that no one other than the keeper of the treasury knew its exact amount.
Jewels are linked with the past for the simple reason that these small objects of beauty concentrate on the culture of love and wealth. The power and pride of kingdoms was enshrined in jewels.