Silver and Gold

THE AMRAPALI COLLECTION

Silver & Gold VISIONS OF ARCADIA

Usha R. Balakrishnan

THE AMRAPALI COLLECTION

Silver & Gold VISIONS OF ARCADIA

For as long as Indians have adorned themselves, they have sought to wear jewels that conveyed beauty, power and status. Jewels are believed to provide protection, hope, luck and well-being.

More than 40 years ago, two friends, united by a passion for the decorative arts, embarked on an exploration of these uni�ue jewels of India. �ey were motivated by the everyday jewels of the people in the villages—to discover the sources of their inspiration and to unravel the complex ritual of adornment that resulted in ornaments being fabricated for every part of the body, from the top of the head to the toes. What resulted were visions of Arcadia, leading to the creation of the Amrapali Collection of Indian Jewellery, one of the largest collections of pastoral silver jewellery in the world. �e manifold communities that this collection represents come from di�erent religions, with linguistic di�erences and diverse cultural sensibilities, but the land that the jewels encompass is geographically contiguous. Beyond adornment, the Amrapali collection presents a vision of harmony with nature, with forms and motifs that draw upon nature and the cosmos, and materials such as shells, grass and bone. �ey exhibit the amazing technical expertise of the simple gold- and silversmiths. �is volume presents the jewels in all their glory, not as museum objects or as relics of the past but as a visual language communicating design, aesthetics, tradition and, above all, the artistic expression of adorning the body.

Silver & Gold

t he a mr a pa li collec t ion

Silver & Gold Visions of Arcadia Usha R. Balakrishnan

Mapin Publishing in association with Amrapali Museum

First published in India in 2026 by Mapin Publishing 706 Kaivanna, Panchvati, Ellisbridge Ahmedabad 380006 INDIA T: +91 79 40 228 228 E: mapin@mapinpub.com www.mapinpub.com in association with The Amrapali Museum K-14/B, Ashok Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302001 INDIA T: +91 141 282 2700 E: info@amrapalimuseum.com www.amrapalimuseum.com

All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The moral rights of Usha R. Balakrishnan as the author of this work are asserted.

ISBN: 978-93-85360-88-6 Copyediting: Mithila Rangarajan/Mapin Editorial Proofreading: Marilyn Gore/Mapin Editorial Design: Gopal Limbad/Mapin Design Studio Cover design and pp. 8–9, 42–43, 58–59, 96–97, 120–121, 130–131, 172–173, 226–227: Prateeq Kumar Printed in India

Text © Usha R. Balakrishnan Photographs © The Amrapali Museum except those listed below: Alamy Stock Photo: Abhirup Bhar: p. 111 (above) Michele Burgess: p. 54 (below-left) Sushil Chikane / ephotocorp: p. 122 (below) Dinodia Photos: pp. 38 (above), 82 Eraza Collection: p. 113 (above) Exotica.im 18: p. 119 (above) imageBROKER / GTW: p. 50 (left) Shreekant Jadhav / ephotocorp: p. 112 (below) Maurice Joseph: p. 50 (right) Franck Metois: p. 38 (below) Prisma Archivo: p. 86 Shalini Saran / Indiapicture: pp. 54 (below-right), 113 (below) Ingetje Tadros / Aurora Photos / Cavan Images: p. 127 (above-left) Dietmar Temps: p. 112 (above) Travel India: p. 119 (below) Muthuraman Vaithinathan: p. 114 G. Dagli Orti / DeAgostini / UIG: p. 34 Indian Museum, Kolkata: p. 74 Metropolitan Museum of Art: pp. 69, 77 (below) Museum of Christian Art, Goa: p. 105 (below) National Museum, New Delhi: pp. 77 (above), 106 National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection: p. 102 Picxy.com: Saurabh Chatterjee: p. 111 (below) Shutterstock: Str/EPA: p. 52 (above-right) Victoria and Albert Museum: pp. 77 (centre), 105 (above), 123

CAPTIONS: Front-cover: Haar (amulet necklace), Rajasthan (See p. 21) P. 2: Jhumar (head ornament), Lucknow (See p. 27, below) P. 5: Bulaq or kundu (nose ring), Himachal Pradesh (See p. 218, right) P. 6: Bazuband (armband), Rajasthan (See p. 98, below-left) PP. 8–9: Peacock feathers for Lord Krishna Back-cover: Gamkharu (bracelets), Assam (See p. 88 below, p. 92 below) Note for the reader: • The captions for images in the book are prefixed by a graphic indicating the position of an image on the two-page spread.

The circles indicate the number of images on a spread while the grey circle indicates the position of the specific image on the page, within the spread.

• Images with captions that do not bear any figure number are supplementary images, additional to those referenced in the text.

Contents

Foreword

11

In Matters of Taste, There is No Dispute

Genesis

33

In The Beginning, There Was Beauty

Ethnos

67

Carry Me, Caravan

Legacy

101

Inspiring Wonder

Materiality

151

Where There Is Honey, There Are Bees

Creation

201

The Four Hands of Vishwakarma

Acknowledgements

236

8

• 9

FOREWORD IN MATTERS OF TASTE, THERE IS NO DISPUTE

I

t all started on a hot day in May 1980; the temperature was hovering at 41 degrees Celsius and a loo was blowing across the city of Jaipur. A barefoot couple walked into the offices of Amrapali. The aged man was attired in a soiled white dhoti and kurta, and a cloth with red, yellow and pink stripes was wound in layers around his head. His wife was dressed in a bright mustard ghaghra-choli decorated with mirrors and embroidery, her red odhni draped over her head and drawn over her forehead to cover her eyes. A bulky potli was in the old man’s hands. He silently placed the cloth bundle on the table and untied the knot; with a loud clatter, a mass of silver scattered across the surface, and flashes of gold and sparkles of gemstones glistened through the heap. There were hair ornaments and earrings, necklaces and armbands, massive bracelets and anklets, and even amulets and toe-rings. That day, more than four decades ago, Rajiv Arora and Rajesh Ajmera embarked on their collecting adventure.

Captivated by the extraordinary beauty of those jewels, they set out on a journey, pursuing a passion that took them across the length and breadth of the subcontinent. They trudged through villages, befriended pawnbrokers and village elders, visited the workshops of the humble craftsmen and even scoured flea markets overseas; they purchased from dealers, bid at auctions and acquired from village goldsmiths and silversmiths. And, in the process, they have saved hundreds of pieces from the melting crucible, sustained craftsmen, stimulated creativity and forged the continuity of craftsmanship.

Chandan haar (necklace) Gujarat, 19th–20th century Gold, emerald, ruby, white sapphire Amrapali family collection

11

16

Bracelet Gujarat, 19th–20th century Gold Amrapali family collection

Nogri or gajredar bangri (bangle) Kota/Bundi, Jhalawar, Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Rajput community Silver AF2013.08.045

Ahasuta (cuff bracelets) Andhra Pradesh/Orissa, 19th–20th century Silver AF2022.08.032

Gaam kharu (bracelets) Assam, 19th–20th century Gold, rubies, diamonds, enamel AF2013.08.193

Foreword • 17

22

Elephant necklace Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.03.084

Haar (necklace) Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.03.016

Foreword • 23

GENESIS IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS BEAUTY

S

ilver and Gold: Visions of Arcadia, The Amrapali Collection of Indian Jewellery explores the rich jewellery tradition of the Indian subcontinent outside the realm of the royal courts.

“Arcadia” refers to an idyllic region of mountainous landscapes, large valleys and plains of ancient Greece, where people lived in rustic simplicity, with plenty and in harmony with nature. While the Mughals and the maharajas have been eulogized as beacons of refined taste and their jewels have excited and preoccupied the imagination of the world, those of arcadian South Asia have been dismissed as “curiosities of craftsmanship,”1 and cast aside as crude and common. However, while royal courts and aristocratic privileges, together with their symbols of power, have long since vanished, it is in the thousands of villages across the subcontinent that the culture of adornment endures.

Among the rural communities of the Indian subcontinent, adornment with jewels and displays of wealth were art traditions of immense beauty but swathed in cultural complexity that few have studied or deciphered. More than any other art form, jewellery and its role, nomenclature, purpose and meaning have all receded in the collective memory, mostly forgotten, and, of late, more and more misremembered and distorted in stories conceived by salesmen to peddle their wares. Sadly, little has been documented and much has been lost, with oral transmission coming to a standstill as these communities settled down, urbanized and embraced modern technology.

For the nomadic, pastoral and tribal people, jewellery served many functions and was saturated with layers of social and religious meanings, suffused with deep symbolic

Pipla (head ornament) Himachal Pradesh, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.13.036

33

For the nomadic, pastoral and tribal people, jewellery served many functions and was saturated with layers of social and religious meanings, suffused with deep symbolic connotations.

ETHNOS CARRY ME, CARAVAN

F

or long, the silver jewellery of the genre presented here has been termed “tribal,” implying that it constitutes the adornment of a segment of society that lies outside the social, economic and political mainstream. The Oxford Dictionary describes “tribe” as “a group of people in a primitive or barbarous stage of development.”1 As anthropological studies of tribes evolved, the description was modified to characterize “tribe” as a “notional form of human social organization based on a set of smaller groups (known as bands), having temporary or permanent political integration, and defined by traditions of common descent, language, culture, and ideology.”2 In the Indian context, accounting for the vast number of tribes and their complex origin stories, as well as their diverse and heterogenous organizational structure, tribes were described much more broadly, as “a large assortment of communities, differing widely in size, mode of livelihood and social organization.”3 There are more than 700 of these communities designated in India, from small foodgathering bands to vast populations of settled agriculturists. They are distributed across the subcontinent (Fig. 1), primarily over five geographical areas: “1) The Himalayan belt, comprising the modern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, the hills of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, 2) Central India, encompassing Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, 3) Western India, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 4) Southern India, spanning Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, [Telangana,] Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and 5) the Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.”4 While their historical antecedents

Amulet necklace Karnataka, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.03.028

67

Kanthila (necklace) Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Gold, glass Amrapali family collection

80

Jhela (head & ear ornaments) Uttar Pradesh 19th–20th century Gold, ruby, turquoise, emerald, pearl, enamel Amrapali family collection

Ethnos • 81

Jhumka (earrings) Uttar Pradesh 19th–20th century Gold, emerald, rubies, pearls Amrapali family collection

92

Earring South India, 19th–20th century Gold Amrapali family collection

Nose ornament Maharashtra, 19th–20th century Gold, rubies Amrapali family collection

Gamkharu (bracelets) Assam, 19th–20th century Gold, rubies, enamel Amrapali family collection

Gajje addigai (necklace) Tamil Nadu/Kerala, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.03.060

Ethnos • 93

LEGACY INSPIRING WONDER

T

here are multiple dimensions to the study of art. To dismiss some forms as archaic or primitive would be a great fallacy. The analytical tools required to grasp and articulate the beauty of jewels go beyond visual perception. It is not enough to explore the physical object, but rather the element in which the beauty of that object becomes manifest; similarly, it is not enough to investigate the source of inspiration, but rather the manner in which that awareness is expressed. It is in the sum of the parts that make up the whole that the life of the object lies, elevating a jewel from a decorative and functional object to a magical entity. Clothes, tattoos, scarification, henna and, most importantly, jewellery, are all enhancements that require the human body as a canvas. But among all these, jewellery is the most pragmatic, for jewels cannot be disassociated from their purpose. Neither dress nor tattoos, cosmetics or henna offers the thrill and narcissistic sensual pleasure derived from metal on skin, the sparkle of gems as the body moves and the illusion of invulnerability that jewellery offers.

The earliest ornaments were products of the hunt. Teeth, claws, horns, tusks, feathers and even the hair of animals were worn as ornaments, perhaps “motivated by the metempsychic belief”1 that the creature’s courage, fierceness and power would pass to the wearer, projecting man’s primacy over the animal. Nature provided an unending supply of raw materials—the brightly coloured feathers of birds, iridescent wings of insects, seeds that provided nourishment, vibrant and intoxicatingly perfumed flowers and even fruits, leaves and vines all became a part of human attire. The seas and rivers

Timaniya (necklace) Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Gold, white sapphires, emeralds, rubies pearls Amrapali family collection

101

distinctive. The coiled-wire vadlo (See ‘Ethnos’,

vernacular but all derived from hansuli, meaning

Fig. 25) is the jewel of the Rabari, while women

“collarbone,” the spot where the jewel rests when

of the Fakirani Jat community can be identified

worn around the neck.

by the stiff hansli with a rectangular cuboid in the centre (Fig. 36), and the one from Bundi or

Distinctive jewels were also identifiers of

Kota, in Rajasthan, is characterized by rows of

male members of these communities. The

granulated balls attached to a stamped plate

horse-shoe-shaped earring bawaria (Fig. 38) is

but with gilt polish, implying an aspiration for

worn in just one ear by Jat, Patel, Rabari and

affluence (Fig. 37). Interestingly, most of these

Banjara men, while the bhungri (Fig. 39) and

stiff necklaces are variously called hansuli, hasli,

patan ogania (Fig. 40) are worn together in the

hansli or hanswi, the term modified to the local

helix by male members of the Rabari, Bharwad

Hasli (torque) Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Gilded silver AF2013.03.009

fig . 37

126

Man from the Rabari community of Rajasthan

fig . 38

fig . 39 Bhungri (ear ornaments) Kutch, Gujarat, 19th century Gilded silver AF2013.02.017i, ii

fig . 40 Patan ogania (earring) Kutch, Gujarat, 19th century Gilded silver AF2013.02.161

Gokhru (earrings) Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Gilded silver AF2013.02.019i, ii

fig . 41

Legacy • 127

Dijhaharu/athoor (ear ornaments) Kashmir, 19th–20th century Gold, diamonds, emeralds, ruby, pearls, enamel AF2024.02.001

fig . 51

136

Nimboli (marriage pendant) Rajasthan, early 20th century Silver AF2013.05.192

fig . 52

fig . 53 Bulaq (nose ornament) Himachal Pradesh, late 19th century Gold AF2013.04.036

fig . 54a Borla (head ornament) Rajasthan, 19th–20th century Silver, Lacquer, copper AF2013.01.011

to wear a balu, nose ring, and bulaq, septum

jewels, are quintessential symbols of a married

ornament (Fig. 53). A Bengali bride is adorned

woman. Even Muslims and Christians (converted

with shank pola, or bangles made from conch

from Hinduism in the past) retained such

shells, on her wedding day, which she then

emblems, modified to symbols of their own

wears throughout the time her husband

culture and belief systems. The Kerala Syrian

is alive, while in Rajasthan the bor or borla

Christian tali, known as minnu, is a leaf-shaped

(Fig. 54 – a, b) and sheeshphul (Fig. 55 – a, b), head

pendant with a cross superimposed on it.

fig . 54b Borla (head ornament) Rajasthan, late 19th century Gold, diamonds, pearls AF2015.01.005

Sheeshphul (head ornament) Rajasthan, 20th century Silver, beads AF2016.01.001 fig . 55a

Sheeshphul (head ornament) Rajasthan, 20th century Silver, beads AF2021.01.007

fig . 55a

Legacy • 137

wheel, and hence its association with Vishnu,

of the moon) and cat’s-eye (Ketu, the descending

whose weapon, the sudarshana chakra, is one of the

node of the moon). The magnificent necklace

attributes he holds in his hand, while his other

from Bengal (Fig. 63) incorporates all the nine

hand holds the conch. Shaligram are worshipped

kinds of gems in a floral arrangement departing

in their natural form or set into necklaces and

from the usual geometric order—ruby is in the

waist belts (Fig. 62).

centre, and the other gems arranged clockwise around it. With the combined energy of the gems,

Another

powerful

amuletic

that

the jewel becomes a cogent entity and assumes

consolidated the power of the celestial bodies

magnetic powers, drawing powerful positive

within the solar system was set with nine gems,

energies into the individual, while deflecting

or navaratna—ruby (Sun), pearl (Moon), coral

the negative. When a gem is prescribed for

(Mars), emerald (Mercury), yellow sapphire

astrological purposes to be worn as a ring, there is

(Jupiter), diamond (Venus), blue sapphire

also a strict assignment of gem to finger. The ruby,

(Saturn), hessonite (Rahu, the ascending node

corresponding to the sun, had to be worn only

Shri Nathji Haar (necklace) Bengal, 19th–20th century Silver, navaratna gems AF2022.03.003

fig . 63

jewel

fig . 64 Chud (cuff bracelet) Gujarat, 19th–20th century Silver, stones AF2013.08.042

Legacy • 145

150

MATERIALITY WHERE THERE IS HONEY, THERE ARE BEES

T

he Creation hymn in the Chandogya Upanishad, among the earliest Indian texts, composed in the first millennium BCE, elucidating man’s quest for knowledge, offers one of the most sublime accounts of the birth of the universe: आदित्यो ब्रह्मेत्यादेशस्​्तस्​्ययोपव्​्ययाख्​्ययानमसदेवेदमग्र आसीत् । तत्​्सदासीत्तत्​्समभवत्तदाण्​्डडं निरवर्​्तत तत्​्ससंवत्​्सरस्​्य मात्रामशयत तन्निरभिद्यत ते आण्​्डकपाले रजतं च सुवर्णं चाभवताम् ॥ ३.१९.१ ॥ तद्यद्रजतं सेयं पृथिवी यत्​्ससुवर्णं सा द्यौर्​्यज्जरायु ते पर्​्वता यदल् ु ्बबं समेघो नीहारो या धमनयस्​्तता नद्यो यद्वास्​्ततेयमुदकं स समुद्रः ॥ ३.१९.२ ॥1

“The Sun is Brahman. In the beginning this universe was non-existent. Then it became existent. It grew. It turned into an egg. It lay for the period of a year. It burst open. Then came out of the eggshell, two parts, one of silver, the other of gold. That which was of silver is this earth; that which was of gold is the sky. What was the outer membrane is the mountains; that which was the inner membrane is the mist with the clouds. What were the veins were the rivers. What was the fluid within is the ocean.”2 Time and again, through the centuries, the philosophy of the ancients attributed life and power to metals. Joseph de Acosta, the sixteenth-century Spanish naturalist, combining an empirical and philosophical exploration of the natural landscape of the New World, wrote in his Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias (The Natural and Moral History of the Indies):

Bracelet Gujarat, 19th–20th century Gold, silver Amrapali family collection

151

Char lara haar (necklace for a horse or elephant) Central India, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.03.097

fig . 33

Champakali haar (necklace) Central India, 19th–20th century Silver, glass AF2013.03.077

fig . 34

Materiality • 177

200

CREATION THE FOUR HANDS OF VISHWAKARMA

S ‘

ilpi ’ is the Sanskrit term for divine art and refers to “the crafts by which Prajapati [the Creator] has fixed the earth, and adorned the sky,”1 while ‘silpin’ refers to the artist and also the maker of things.2 In later texts, the Creator is referred to as Vishwakarman—vishwa meaning “universe” and karman meaning “maker,” the one who created the universe. He is thus the principal architect of the universe and designer of towns. He constructed the palaces, chariots, weapons of the gods and even their divine ornaments. In the tenth and last book of the Rig Veda, Vishwakarma appears as an important deity and is described as “the one all-seeing god, who, when producing heaven and earth, shapes them with his arms and wings; the father, generator, disposer, who knows all worlds, gives the gods their names, and is beyond the comprehension of mortals.” य इमा विश्वा भुवनानि जुह्वद रषिर्होता नयसीदत्​्पपिता नः | स आशिषा दरविणमिछमानः परथमछदवराना विवेश || किं सविदासीदधिष्ठनमारम्​्भणं कतमत सवित्​्कथासीत | यतो भूमिं जनयन विश्वकर्​्म वि दयामौर्णोन महिना विश्वचक्​्षा​ाः || विश्वतश्चक्षुरुत विश्वतोमुखो विश्वतोबाहुरुतविश्वतस्​्पपात | सं बाहुभ्​्यया​ां धमति सं पतत्रैर्द्यावाभूमी जनयन देव एकः || किं सविद वनं क उ स वर्कक्ष आस यतो दयावाप्​्र्थथिवीनिष्टतक्​्षु​ुः | मनीषिणो मनसा पर्​्छतेदु तद यदध्​्यतिष्ठद भुवनानि धारयन || या ते धामानि परमाणि यावमा या मध्​्यमाविश्वकर्​्मन्नुतेमा | शिक्षा सखिभ्​्ययो हविषि सवधावःस्​्वयं यजस्​्व तन्​्ववं वर्​्धधानः ||

Jhumka (earrings) Himachal Pradesh, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.02.115

201

Haar (necklace) Awadh, 19th–20th century Silver, glass AF2013.03.096

fig . 10

210

Mathapatti (head ornament) Uttar Pradesh, 19th–20th century Silver AF2013.01.006

fig . 11

fig . 12 Jhumar or saraiki (head ornament) Uttar Pradesh, 19th–20th century Silver, glass, semi-precious stones AF2013.01.008

Creation • 211

Acknowledgements Writing a book on a collection of silver and gold jewellery that spans the length and breadth of India was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. None of this would have been possible without the vision and far-sightedness of Rajiv Arora and Rajesh Ajmera. To them and the Amrapali family, I cannot express enough thanks.

This book would not have been accomplished without my dear friend Pramod Kumar K.G. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this “dream” project.

I extend my sincere thanks to Surbhi Mathur and Drishti Desai, as well as the entire team at Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Bala, for his support and encouragement in all my pursuits, and to my son, Aryadita, who is an unrelenting source of inspiration. He provided a touch of class to the book.

Dr. Usha R. Balakrishnan

236

CRAFTS, DESIGN & FASHION the amrapali collection

Silver and Gold Visions of Arcadia

Usha R. Balakrishnan 236 pages, 375 images 9.9 x 13.5” (252 x 343 mm), hc ISBN: 978-93-85360-88-6 ₹4500 | $75 | £55 2025 • World rights

Dr. Usha R. Balakrishnan is the Chief Curator of the World Diamond Museum and a pre-eminent historian of Indian jewellery. She is the author of several publications, including ȪLjȳȥLjɞLjԦ ̨DZ DZLjɸɯʗ ɀȄ uɞȶLjȳDZȶɯԧ and has co-authored most recently ¤ɞDZLjɥɸɞDZɥ ɀȄ ɯȎDZ &DZǥǥLjȶԦ ZDZʑDZȪɥ ɀȄ ɯȎDZ lȓʡLjȳɥԧ one of the two-volume publication devoted to the fabulous jewels and seminal collection of paintings inherited by the Nizams of Hyderabad. Her curatorial projects include ‘India: Jewels that Enchanted the World’ at the Moscow Kremlin Museum, ‘Enduring Splendor: �e Jewelry of India’s �ar Desert’ at the Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, and ‘Shringara: Adornment’ at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Museum, Mumbai.

other titles of interest Crafting Culture (forthcoming) The Amrapali Collection of Indian Decorative Arts Pramod Kumar K.G. crafts of india

Handmade in India (third reprint) Aditi Ranjan and M.P. Ranjan

THE AMRAPALI COLLECTION

Silver &Gold

₹4500 | $75 | £55 ISBN 978-93-85360-88-6

www.mapinpub.com