Jewelry is considered as the most significant part of Indian women’s life. Historians have dated back the history of jewelry in Indian subcontinent to as much as 5000 years old. This can be predicted from the relics founded in the Harappa civilization depicting the use of jewelry in wedding ceremonies of that time.
According to Hindu traditions, jewelry is worn in order stay away from evil spirits. Its significance can also be evaluated from the fact that no celebration is complete without offering jewelry items as a gift in various Indian festivals. Jewelry is believed to bring good luck to women. That is why Indian women always prefer to wear some kind of jewelry all the time.
Jewelry is without any doubt an integral part of Indian weddings ceremonies. Its designs are so versatile and they vary across different demographic transitions. Whether it is a Hindu or Muslim wedding, marriage in India is “incomplete” without brides wearing beautiful embroidered jewelry. Indian brides predominantly use jewelry made of gold, silver and diamonds to embellish their beauty. It is associated with her family’s wealth and status. Jewelry presented to a Hindu bride on her wedding is known as “Stri-dhan” or the wealth of a woman.
In a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony, brides wear “Chooda”, a bangles set of different colors and embroidery. The “Chooda” is put onto the bride’s wrist as a symbol of feminism and good luck. It is believed to prolong her married life and the life of her husband. “Maangtika” (worn on forehead), earrings, nose-rings, toe-rings, anklets, necklace, “Mangal-sutra” (a religious necklace presented by groom to the bride as an identity of their marriage), and golden bangles are some of the other jewelry items adorned by most Indian brides.
In olden times, bronze, silver and gold were commonly used to make bridal ornaments but the last few years have seen more people opting for jewelry studded with other precious stones such as diamond, pearls, platinum, white gold, ruby, jade, emerald and other precious stones. Therefore, modern day bridal Jewelry is a combination of brilliant ornaments decorating every part of bride’s body from head to toe.
Although jewelry is predominantly worn by women, men are not far behind whether it is the weddings rings, bracelets or ornamental watches. A number of companies these days emphasize on making decorated jewelry items not just for brides, but for grooms as well.
Traditions often changes with the passage of time, but the association of jewelry and the Indian wedding has an inseparable bond that is very delicately crafted in the Indian culture from the past thousands of years and will undoubtedly prevail in future for a very long time to come.
by Rubina Singh