October 2009 Volume 7 Sandesh Sandesh Issue 3 “The Message” A Newsletter from IndUS of Fox Valley From Editors’ Desk A Brief History of India’s Jewelry Heritage By Joe Elder Dear Readers, As in the previous years this issue Jewelry in the Indus Valley Civilization Descriptions of Jewelry in Classical of Sandesh is dedicated to the Archaeologists excavating Indus-Valley- Texts annual IndUS banquet theme. This civilization sites in contemporary India and The Buddhist Dhammapada described a year‘s theme is: ―The Glorious Pakistan have unearthed large quantities of court woman‘s robe on which was woven a Tradition of Indian Textiles & beads made from shells, glazed peacock with its eyes, neck, and tail Jewelry‖. In this issue, you will earthenware, pottery, soap-stone, agate, feathers made of pearls, its beak made of find articles that describe the role amethyst, carnelian, green feldspar, jasper, coral, and its feathers made of red gold that jewelry and textiles have turquoise, and onyx. Craftpersons living with midribs of silver. According to the played in shaping of India. These thousands of years ago had strung together Dhammapada, five-hundred goldsmiths articles portray the fabric of India some of these beads to form necklaces, worked four months to complete the robe. as colorful, strong and woven over bracelets, and girdles. The skills of those In the Tamil epic poem, the centuries. It has patterns craftpersons were reflected in the variety of Cilappatikaram (―The Jeweled Anklet‖), crisscrossing politics, struggle for the beads‘ shapes and sizes. Archaeologists the crime of a king who executed an freedom, religion and culture. excavated short-barrel beads and long- innocent man without a trial was revealed Jewelry and textiles of India have barrel cylinders, faceted beads, hexagonal when a jeweled anklet was broken open charmed and influenced kings and beads, and globular beads, and beads that and exposed gems other than pearls (the queens, ambassadors, and tourists were decorated with wavy lines, trefoil queen‘s stolen anklet had contained pearls). from all over the world and yet designs, and irregular grooves. Discs, The 5th century Sanskrit author Sudraka, in remain uniquely Indian. spacers, and terminals enabled people to his play ―The Little Clay Cart,‖ described a shape their own individual bead patterns. shop in which jewelers examined emeralds, Archaeologists discovered the techniques lapis lazuli, sapphires, pearls, and topaz, Sandesh by which tiny holes were drilled through and craftspersons set rubies in gold, pierced Sandesh beads – hole-drilling techniques still being corals, or cut shells. In a court scene in the An IndUS of Fox Valley used in contemporary India and Pakistan. play, a judge ordered ornaments to be Publication Archaeologists have found anklets, examined carefully, since jewelers could earrings, combs, hairpins, and nose fabricate such clever imitations that only Editors ornaments – many of them similar to ones the most discerning could discover they Dr. Badri Varma in use today in the same regions of India were fake. Ms. Manjari Chatterji and Pakistan. They have Jewelry in Sculpture and Painting Mr. C. Shekar Rao also found bracelets Dr. Sandhya Sridhar made of shell, glazed- Sculptors in Bharhut in north central India Dr. Mahesh Subramony pottery, bronze, copper, adorned their representations of yakshis (female earth figures) with elaborate Ms. Sandhya Maheshwari silver, and gold. Perhaps the best-known earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and girdles. Advisor bracelets from the Indus- The yakshis carved on the gates of the great Dr. B. S. Sridhar Valley civilization are Buddhist stupa in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh were similarly adorned. The Buddhist The views expressed in the articles those on the arms of the famous copper statuette paintings in Maharashtra‘s famous Ajanta are not necessarily those of the caves depicted wide varieties of jewelry Editors or IndUS of Fox Valley of a dancer found in Mohenjo Daro. including the simple white necklace of a Page 2 Sandesh bodhisattva holding a white lotus in wreathed with pearls, rubies, and precious stones. Two centuries later, in Cave 1, the elaborate headdresses and diamonds, and rings on almost every 1926 and 1941, the Pahlavi kings used golden ornaments of the palace ladies in finger. Roe also described a solar the modified Peacock Throne during Cave 1, and the elaborately-crafted weighing ceremony during which their coronations in Teheran. necklace of the apsara (celestial nymph) Jahangir sat on one side of the scales The Koh-i-Noor (Persian: ―mountain of in Cave 17. Adorning the three-headed while on the other side jewelry was light‖) diamond at one time was Shiva in the Elephanta Cave outside placed until the weight of the jewelry considered to be the largest diamond in Mumbai were multiple separate balanced the Emperor‘s weight. At that the world. It is thought that the diamond necklaces. The human figures in the point the jewelry was taken away and was mined in Andhra Pradesh in south temples in Khajuraho and the Hindu donated to the poor. Francois Bernier, India where it became the property of the gods and goddesses in temples in who visited India in 1658-59 when Shah Kakatiya kings. In 1323 or 1324 the Konarak, Halebid, Tiruchirappali, and Jahan (1592-1666) was the Mughal diamond was taken north as conqueror‘s Madurai were often extravagantly Emperor, reported that ―the empire was booty. The diamond eventually fell into adorned with jewelry. In south India the an abyss of gold and silver … because so the hands of the Mughals. The Mughal Chola and Pandya portable bronze much was melted, remelted and wasted emperor Babur (d. 1530) referred to this figures of Shiva, Vishnu, and their in fabricating women‘s bracelets for both huge diamond in his personal memoirs. consorts were decorated with necklaces, the hands and feet, charms, earrings, According to some accounts, Shah anklets, and bracelets. Under the nose and finger rings and a still larger Jahan, a direct descendant of Babur, patronage of royal households, schools quantity is consumed in manufacturing placed this diamond in his Peacock of painting developed in different parts embroidery … gold and silver clothes, Throne. According to general accounts, of India. Favorite subjects in those brocades, etc. The quantity of these after Aurangzeb seized power from Shah paintings were rulers, courtiers, and articles made in India is incredible.‖ Jahan (his father), he moved the diamond ladies of their courts. The jewelry they Shah Jahan is known throughout the to his private mosque in Lahore. In 1739, wore was often depicted in the finest world as the Mughal ruler who built the when Iran‘s Nader Shah overran Lahore detail. Especially impressive were the Taj Mahal in Agra as a monument to his and saw the enormous diamond, he is miniature paintings in which inspection beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. reported to have exclaimed ―Koh-i- with a magnifying glass revealed that The Peacock Throne and the Koh-i- Noor,‖ thereby giving the diamond its each pearl or precious stone in a regal Noor Diamond name. After Nader Shah was piece of jewelry had been painted in No history of India‘s jewelry heritage assassinated in 1747, the diamond detail – sometimes with the painter using changed hands several times before the single hair from a cat‘s tail. would be complete without accounts of the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor coming into the possession of the Jewelry and Royalty diamond. Shah Jahan is credited with Maharaja of Lahore. On March 29, 1849 Royal families often collected jewelry as creating the Peacock Throne. Designed the Punjab formally joined the British a sign of wealth and also as objects of as the platform center-piece in the Delhi India Empire. The surrender treaty called beauty. Some of their collections became Red Fort‘s Hall of Private Audience, the for the Koh-i-Noor diamond to be given legendary. In the early 1500s the solid-gold throne stood on golden feet set to Queen Victoria. On July 5, 1850 the Portuguese Bartholomew Paes visited with jewels and was ascended by silver diamond was formally presented to the south India‘s Vijayanagar court and steps. Behind the throne were two gilded Queen. In 1851 it was put on public described the jeweled dress of the and enameled open peacock tails inset display in the Great Exhibition of Hyde queen‘s maids of honor and a bed with a with gorgeous arrangements of precious Park, London. In 1852 Prince Albert pearl-lined railing in a palace room lined stones. From the Peacock Throne Shah arranged to have the Koh-i-Noor with gold. Abu Fazl‘s Ain-i-Akbari Jahan, and later his son Aurangzeb (1618 diamond re-cut (and thereby reduced) in described features of the north-India -1707), heard appeals and dispensed order to increase its brilliance. The Mughal Emperor Akbar‘s 16th century justice. In 1739 Nader Shah, ruler of diamond was then placed in the crown court including a department of precious Iran, invaded India and captured Delhi, worn by subsequent Queens of England. stones. The department‘s superintendent the Red Fort, and the Peacock Throne. Contemporary Jewelry: Rakhis, and staff classified Akbar‘s diamonds, According to some reports, Nader Shah Mangalsutrams, and Wedding emeralds, rubies, and sapphires into as constructed a duplicate Peacock Throne Ornaments many as sixteen categories according to and took both the original and the The Rakhi is usually a string or thread their commercial value. In 1616 the duplicate back to Iran. A few years later, worn around the wrist symbolizing English ambassador to the Mughal court, Kurds seized both thrones, dismantled protection (from Sanskrit raksh – ―to Sir Thomas Roe, reported that on one them, and distributed their jewels.