Kundan Jewellery from India

Kundan Jewelry:

One of the oldest forms of jewellery made and worn in India is the kundan jewellery. Kundan work is a method of gem setting, consisting of inserting gold foil between the stones and its mount. Kundan work is often combined with meenakari, so that a piece of jewllery has two equally beautiful surfaces, enamel at the back end and kundan set gems in the front. Meenakari involves the fusion of colored minerals, such as cobalt oxide for blue and copper oxede for green. This gives the effect of precious stone inlay work on the surface of the metal.

Jaipur is the main centre of kundan jewellery. The famous Johri bazaar is the nerve centre of this craft. Nathdwara is known for its silver kundan work. Bikaner is also known for its kundan work.

Silver Traditional Ornaments

The traditional ornaments are, by and large, of a high quality silver. Knowing the prevailing rate helps in getting the best bargain. Apart from the quality of silver and craftsmanship, prices for silver traditional ornament depend on the availability of the piece. The rarer the ornament the higher the per gram price.
Rural ornaments can be categorized into two - the old and the new. The old jewellery, which has been used shows a certain amount of petina or crust. But the used jewelllery is not necessarily of great antiquity. Since silver jewellery is constantly worn, it acquires the appearance of antiquity. On the other side certain old pieces which may have been stored and not used would appear as new. Basically the buyers should notice the style and the design to judge the authenticity of the piece. since the old ornaments fetcha a higher price and are in demand, the sellers oxidise the pieces. Unlike the real oxidation, the artificial oxidation can be washed away.

Types of Amulets

Based on the purpose, there were two distinctive type of amulets - negative and positive. Negative amulets provided protection by repelling the negative forces, while the positive ensured the fulfillment of desires like marriage, wealth and the birth of a son. Interestingly, the number of negative amulets worn is much higher than the positive ones. With such a long tradition of jewellery it is nearly impossible to differentiate between amuletic and ornamental or customary jewellery, since, more often than not, the users themselves are unaware of the difference. They just seem to continue wearing them as per their tradition. As is apparent, amuletic jewellery is a widely popular practice among the rural folk who are not only illiterate, but also live a life full of hardships. Amulets are worn specifically as well as integrated in the ornaments generally worn around the neck. Such integrated ornaments, like many others, present a unique similarity between the cultures of the Thar Desert covering Rajasthan & Gujarat,the Sahara Desert covering the Middle East and,the Great Gobe covering North Africa. However, special sanctity is attached to wearing an amulet without integrating it in an ornament when it is worn for a specific purpose, as generally, the amulets integrated in ornaments are not activated. An amulet is activated and empowered by a priest or a shaman after performing an elaborate ritual. Like the statue of a deity, life is infused in the amulets through a special ritual, Pranpratistha or Abhishek, without which they can not posses any power. It is performed individually for each user, which is why it loses its divine power when it loses contact with that individual. For a different user the ritual has to be performed again to regain its lost magical power.