Jewellery

Jewellery made of natural materialsIn early India, people fashioned Jewellery out of natural materials found in abundance all over the country-seeds, feathers, leaves, berries, fruits, flowers, animal bones, claws and teeth. Even today such Jewellery is used by the different tribal societies. Interestingly, these tribal jewelry items are also famous worldwide as high fashion jewelry! Excavations at Mohenjodaro and other sites of the Indus Valley civilization have unearthed a wealth of ornaments. It appears that both men and women of that time wore Jewellery made of gold, silver, copper, ivory and precious and semi-precious stones. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are abound with descriptions of ornaments and the code of Manu defines the duties of the goldsmith. By the third century B.C., India was the leading exporter of gemstones, particularly diamonds. Gold was usually imported into the country, a practice prevalent even during the Mughal period.