Jewellery is an important part of a woman’s trousseau. Mothers start collecting individual pieces and whole sets to give to their daughters at the time of their marriage. In times gone by, a woman’s jewellery represented her cache of liquid assets and in turn she would divide her jewels among her daughters when they got married.
Traditional Indian jewellery was inspired by nature and recurring motifs included flowers and animals and designs taken from geometrical rangolis. The popular closed cutting was preferred to make the jewellery more durable and safe for the precious stones. Plenty of Tamils from Burma brought in the uncut rubies the ‘cabochon’ and the kemp has been an integral part of South Indian jewellery.
The diamond earrings have always been considered an integral part of a bride’s trousseau. The common pieces of a bride’s jewellery used to be Rakodi, hair ornament, the waist belt, Oddiyanam, the dangling umbrella shaped Jimikis and the adiggai, choker coupled with the heavy haaram like kasu malai, maangai maalai etc. Today, modern girls shun heavy, chunky jewellery and settle for fashionable jewellery. They want to be stylist and match jewels to outfits, and their choice is light, filigree chockers in both gold and diamonds. Rubies and emeralds too are popular.
The older generations’ insistence for ‘dosham’ free stones has also fallen by the wayside. Diamonds from 2 cents to 9 cents are used liberally in open settings of diamond jewellery and the 4 C’s-colour, clarity, carat, and cut are the criteria for selection. Ready made diamond necklaces for about a lakh of rupees are available in plenty in all jewellery showrooms.
Courtesy: An article about bridal jewellery from a news paper.
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