Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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LIFESTYLES

Jewellery in Sculpture

The study of the early jewellery, none other than the sculptures,

form fundamental visual sources. The sculptures in the temples of

ancient India depict richly adorned male and female figures. One

must remember however, that particularly all of these represent

gods, and their costumes and adornments were undoubtedly on

Devi Sculpture

those of the royalty and nobility of the day. What we know of an-

cient Indian jewellery is derived from two sources; excavated

material from early sites with gold jewellery relatively rare and the

visual record provided by countless carved or more rarely painted

representations of richly adorned gods and goddesses from the

third to fourth centuries B.C. onwards. Representations of jewel-

lery tend to be more massive and very little of this sort was

probably made in the first place. The techniques of carving stone or

moulding terracotta, moreover do not favour the reproduction of

lighter, more delicate creations which has been found in excava-

tions in the north-west, the jewellery shown in the Ajanta mural is

more akin to them, at least in spirit. Finally there is an ever in-

creasing tendency commencing in the later part of the Gupta period

for the jewellery worn by the stone or bronze figures to become

conventionalised and no longer represent real jewellery.

The Didarjunj Yakshi, of Mauryan times, has minimum but

most exquisitely carved jewellery in the form of forehead ornament,

necklace, bracelets, girdles and anklets of the early sculptures

which have survived, the Yakshi from Tamluk near Calcutta

belonging to 200 B.C., on a moulded terracotta plaque portray

sumptuous jewellery. The Barhut, Sanchi and Amaravati

sculptures exhibit the jewellery of fine taste and choice. The

Gandhara sculptures produced in large quantities in Hellenistic

influences make a very good beginning of adornment of male

figures. Bodhisatvas in fact make a profound impact on jeweller

art, becoming increasingly inevitable in portraying Hindu gods and

goddesses or later times. The gods and goddesses are identified

many times by the jewellery they have worn. Jewellery provides

greater clue in identifying the style or art such as the Gupta period

with minimum well-drawn and designed jewels with massive

crowns of different sizes and shapes. The Pallava images appear

more imposing because of the conical type of huge crowns

Belur Sculpture

symbolising the power. The variations in the ear-ornaments of

Shaiva, Vaishnava and Devi images represent an unusual fashion

along with the necklaces, armlets, waist ornaments and foot

ornaments in the Chalukyan art of Post-Gupta era. The love for

decoration and the embelishment of images never came in the way

of fluid effect and compositional techniques for which the

Chalukyan sculptures known

for. The sculptures of this

period show very delicate

floral designs and beautiful

patterns adoring the female

figures. The Culmination of all

early styles of North, Central

and South Indian idioms of

imaginary is found in the

Kailasanatha of Ellora in 8th

century A.D. The sensational

sculptures of Rashtrakutas in

Ellora and Elephanta portray

an extra-ordinary case in

decorating the massive images with minimum jewellery. The

embelishment of these sculptures through the art of jewellery

apparently added to the grace of enlining images. The massive

Mahesha of Elephanta, cut in deeper relief is a fine example of the

jewellers art of early medieval times. The combination of the three

different aspects into an unified form is accomplished in part, by

massive base of the shoulders, by the pattern of jewellery as the

head-dress and above all by a psychological unity which allows the

wrathful to be not too wrathful, and unites it with more serene and