The basis of most Indian jewelry is gold. No matter what fashion trends have risen or fallen over the past centuries, gold has been a constant in Indian jewelry design.
In order to understand the importance of gold in Indian jewelry design, we must travel back in time to ancient India. The literature of ancient India often discusses gold jewelry, and describes Vedic gods wearing gold jewelry and ornaments. In fact, according to the Vedas, gold played a significant part in the creation of the universe. The Vedas state that life originated in a golden egg, with a brilliance equal to that of the sun.[1]
Multiple historic texts mention large Indian images of gold; many Middle Eastern and Chinese travelers to ancient India also describe such images.[2] Later travelers to India have written lavish descriptions of gold-gilded pillars, jeweled golden thrones, and roofs and walls made of plated gold.[3] The use of gold in construction and jewelry was apparently so magnificent that it led the French physician and traveler Francois Bernier to describe India as “an abyss of gold”.[4] The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote that India consumed all the gold of Rome in exchange for its textiles and spices.[5] The British diplomat Sir Thomas Roe described the Mughal Court as “the treasury of the world”.[6]
The use of gold and expensive gemstones was not limited to the very rich in ancient Indian society. Instead, it was prevalent throughout all economic classes. In fact, foreigners traveling to India in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries were amazed by the splendor of court jewelry, and by the variety of ornaments worn by people at all social levels.[7] Ambassador of Shah Rukh of Samarkand visited Vijayanagar in 1438, and noted that “all inhabitants of this country, both those of exalted rank and of an inferior class, down to artisans of the bazaar, wear pearls, or rings adorned with precious stones, in their ears, on their necks, on their arms, on the upper part of the hand and on the fingers.”[8] Ludovica de Varthema, an Italian in India from 1503-1508, went to Bijapur in the Deccan and said of the Muslim ruler’s servants: ‘A great number wear on the insteps of their shoes, rubies and diamonds, and other jewels; so you may imagine how many are worn on the fingers of the hand and in the ears.”[9]
Unfortunately, no examples of such ancient gold splendidness survive. It is believed that most ancient large gold objects, along with other historic gold jewelry, were frequently melted down and recast into different items throughout the ages. In fact, one of the reasons gold has retained its value and status in India is because it can easily be altered and redesigned by goldsmiths with little loss of the main material, which has led to most ancient Indian gold jewelry being recycled into newer designs.[10] In fact, my mother has done this with several gold items of jewelry. My sister and I were relieved when she had them redesigned (they looked clunky and just all-around terrible), but now that I’m older, I wish I had at least taken a photo of the original design, so that we would know what it looked like. It’s something to keep in mind for the future . . .
Another reason that very little is known about ancient Indian jewelry design is because Indian history is largely unrecorded.[11] The majority of records on Indian history – including observations of the local peoples – are from British colonial officials, starting in the 1700s. Actual written records by Indian historians are scarce. As a former history major, this issue never fails to aggravate me. I’ve always assumed that all the Hindu rituals my mother attends are uber-traditional, carried down unchanged through the centuries. This might be true – Hindu priests are supposed to be schooled in the oral traditions for many years before becoming official priests – but what if it isn’t true? There’s no written documentation to prove otherwise; I believe most of their learning is through the oral tradition (recitation). And, outside of religion, what about clothing? My grandmother always insisted that saris were the traditional manner of dressing for Indian women for centuries – but how do we know this? There must have been some changing fashion trends – what were they? Thanks to the lack of written records, we’ll probably never know.
Another complicating factor is that most of India was ruled by different small kingdoms that rose and fell throughout the centuries. Only under a few rulers (the Mauryas, the Mughals, the British, and maybe a few other dynasties) was India ever mostly united as one nation. This fragmented political history means that there is no one dynasty or ruling family that recorded Indian jewelry design through the ages. Instead, we have to depend on temple sculptures and (mostly) Mughal art to determine what the historic Indian jewelry styles were like, and to also determine how prevalent the use of gold was.
The few significant discoveries of ancient Indian gold are mostly from Northwest India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, especially in the ancient towns of Gandhara and Taxila.[12] Small pieces of gold jewelry have also been found at the excavation site at Harappa.[13] Interestingly, perhaps due to the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Greece, historians believe that most of this discovered jewelry displays a strong Greek or Hellenistic influence. For example, the sets of earrings discovered at Harappa often have discs with tiny chains hanging down with beads at the end, which is viewed as an ancient Greek jewelry design.[14] I personally am not convinced that this type of design is a purely Greek influence, as it is fully integrated into Indian jewelry up to the modern day. In fact, I believe this type of design (and many others that are believed to originate in Greece) may actually be an organic Indian creation (but I have no proof of this theory).
Interestingly, the intensive use of gold was not limited to Northern India. The Arthashastra, India’s most famous political and governmental treatise, which was written by the government minister Chanakya (Kautilya), actually references gold in South India, and suggests that trade be established with South Indian kingdoms, as gold, conch shells, diamonds, pearls, and other gems, were plentiful.[15] This fact also leads me to be skeptical of Greek influence on Indian jewelry design – exactly what were Indian designs before the Greeks invaded Northern India? Unfortunately, no one knows, but I suspect that what we know of today as traditional South Indian jewelry design was actually quite widespread throughout all of India, at least prior to the Greeks.
Overall, there still remains much to be discovered about the use of gold in ancient India. I just hope that someone will find a magical hidden library buried in some temple ruins, that discuss this subject!
[1] Traditional Jewelry of India, by Oppi Untracht; Thames and Hudson Ltd. and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997, page 278.
[2] A Golden Treasury: Jewellery From The Indian Subcontinent, by Susan Stronge, Nima Smith, and J.C. Harle, 1988, page 11-13.
[3] Stronge, 27.
[4] Stronge, 27
[5] Stronge, 115
[6] Stronge, 27.
[7] Stronge, 27
[8] Stronge, 27.
[9] Stronge, 27.
[10] Untracht, 278
[11] Untracht, 15.
[12] Stronge, 11-13.
[13] Stronge, 11
[14] Stronge, 13
[15] Untracht, 290.
