The Jewellery from Indus Valley Civilization
By: Samreen Zaidi
The following article traces the ancient Art of Jewellery Making, techniques and materials used during the Indus Valley Civilization
Ornamentation has been one of the most essential aspects of Indian Art and this is obviously reflected about the importance and context of history and origins of jewellery in Indian arts, its natural resources, making and manufacturing technologies, invention, evolution, development and purposes. Since time immemorial man has still been producing utilitarian and non-utilitarian objects, local crafts and artifacts for his daily and essential needs. And among them jewellery comes in the category of Decorative Arts. From the Ancient and Medieval times he has created and developed the ornament even for the smallest and delicate body part like nose rings,earrings and the other elaborate forms. Such forms are easily visible and available in the traditional and tribal jewellery of India and the world. It is certainly appealing from the aesthetic point of view as it enhances one's look and is even admirable for variety of materials ranging from flowers to metals used in its production! And is a product of man's creativity used for the purpose of adornment and desire for expressing one's tastes through the various civilizations.
It is amazing to look at and know about jewellery from Indus Civilization (fig.1)dating back to the 2nd Century BC. Only a few years back gold and silver jewellery, including a tiara and an armlet, were discovered at Kunal, a small Early Harappan site in district of Hissar, Haryana (Source: Indus Valley Museum Gallery, National Museum, Delhi). The many good examples referring to the Indus Civilization jewellery are the sculpture of the Dancing Girl (fig.2)made of bronze with her right hand placed on her hip and her left hand straight is adorned with bangles of shellac and ivory. And also there is a skeleton of a woman (fig.3) .... years old OR dating back to .... century encased in glass. There are also some ritualistic and the funerary objects alongside her burial OR corpse. Since jewellery is worn mainly for religious and ritualistic purposes like amulets, rings and pendants! There are also two small bangles adorning her right hand. From this example, it is quite evident that the bangles were certainly produced in the Indus Valley Civilization.
Among the collection of jewellery of this period in the National Museum, notable are the exhibits of small and big necklaces from Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Lothal, Kalibangan (fig.4)and many other small cities of this civilization. These ornaments are made up of some locally and readily available materials like terracotta, clay and many semi precious stones such as lapis lazuli, jasper, carnelian, steatite, jade, copper, ivory and shellac produced by local craftsmen depending upon the availability of the raw materials. The various shapes of the beads (fig.6) such as round, rectangular, disc or octagonal and their sizes were interesting and noteworthy about their state of preservation! And although all the ornaments are catalogued as necklaces in Indus Valley Gallery, National Museum, but some looked like bracelets. It is indeed very interesting and fascinating to know about the facts revealed by each specimen during this civilization and its creation.
