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Jewellery in Kamasutra: Ancient Hindu Jewellery! You can get Ph.D.- Part 4 (Post No.15,879)
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Hindu Mother Goddess in Indus Valley
Vatsayayana’s Kamasutra, the oldest Sex Book in the world, has details of types of jewellery that was used 2000 years ago.
Kamasutra in Sanskrit has the world’s oldest syllabus for teenage girls; Hindu women were far advanced in learning than other ancient cultures. One of the 64 subjects that a girl should study is JEWELLERY.
Apart from jewellery, he has dealt with garland making, the art of dressing and crowns and head ornaments.
Pronunciation – vaatsyaayana, kaama suutra;
1
Crowns and head ornaments
Headbands or circlets of flowers of all colours used especially by town people.
2
Theart of dressing
To chose garments and jewels to embellish the body, according to place and circumstances.
3
Ivory and mother of pearl ornaments
4
Perfumes
5
Jewellery
These are of two kinds: necklaces ornamented with jewels worn around the hips, used mostly for the theatre.
Under the topic of the conduct of the well-bred townsmen vatsyayana says,
At dusk numerous people gather for reception, including singers, dancers and the players of instruments.
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Gentlemen should go to the reception room elegantly dressed. Elegance is a matter of the quality of the clothes and jewels. Bharata gives some indications in his Natya Shastra (naatya shaastra). An elegant man wears four kinds of clothes made of vegetable silk/kshauma, cotton/kaarpaasa, natural silk/kaushysa or wool/rangava. Vegetable silk is made from hemp fibre and can also be made from bark.
After this gentlemen put on their jewels. Varahamihira describes thirteen kinds of precious stones and nine kinds of golden jewels. The gemstones are
Diamond/ vajra,
Pearl/mukta,
Ruby/pamaraga,
Emerald/ maragata
Sapphire/ indranila,
Lapis lazuli/vaidurya,
Topaz/puhparaga,
A black stone,
A whet stone,
Amber/pulaka,
Garnet/rudhiraaksha,
Amethyst/bhiisma
Crystal/sphatika, opla/pravaala.
Jewels are of four kinds:
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picture of African Negro Dancer from Indus Valley with Jewels.
Avedhya – for which the flesh is pierced: earrings, diamond in the nose;
Nibhandaniiya- attached with bands; attached to the arm/angada, headband for the hair/venii; crown /shikaa dridhikaa, belt/shroni suutra, diadem/chuudaamani.
Prakshepya –slipped on : ring/urmikaa, nail guards/kataka, bracelets/valaya, anklets/manjiira.
Aaropya – worn around the neck; necklaces/hara, necklace of twenty seven perarls/nakshatramaalikaa.
Then vaatsyaayana describes other flower decorations and perfume types.
Later in a chapter he gives details of how a woman should behave:
For amorous encounters, she must dress luxuriously with many jewels, many flowers and ointments.
On going out to amusements, she must wear elegant but unpretentious garments, only a few jewels, discreet scent and makeup, white flowers in her hair.
Pretty but simple clothes, simple ear rings, no colours that are too flashy.
If her husband practises periodic abstinence or fasting, she does the same. She tells him” We are bound to one another. I am not independent”.
She does as he does to show her devotion.
When her husband departs on a journey abroad, she removes the married woman’s marks and her jewels, dedicates herself to devotion, and looks after the house according to the rules established by her husband.
She attends to worshipping the gods, praying, fasting, and must behave as her husband has taught her.
She must sleep beside her parents-in-law and obey their instructions.
Vaatsyaayana gives more details of daily routine. I am not writing here because it has not anything to do with jewellery.
–to be continued
Tags – Kamasutra, Vatsyayana, jewellery, part 4, Jewellery in Kamasutra: Ancient Hindu Jewellery, You can get Ph.D.
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