A language worn from head to toe
Jewellery as a bank: in villages without banks, a woman's silver was the family's savings. It could be sold in a bad year and remade in a good one, and much of it still is.
Jewellery as a sign: many pieces say something. The forehead ornament and the toe rings tell you a woman is married, and the absence of jewellery can mark a widow in some communities.
- Gold
- Brides, royal and merchant families, weddings
- Silver
- Village and herding communities, everyday wear
- Worn as
- Savings, status and blessing at once
- Who makes it
- Sunars, the hereditary goldsmiths
- Best season to see it
- The winter wedding months
- Jewellery as a gift: a bride's set usually comes from both families, and women can often tell you which piece came from whose side, and from which grandmother.
- Gold and silver have their places: gold belonged to courts, merchants and weddings. Silver is the metal of the villages, the herders and the desert, worn heavy and every day.
- The makers are a community too: the sunar, the goldsmith, works in family workshops where skills pass from father to son, often in the same lane for generations.
- It is still worn: this is not a museum subject. You will see a farmer's wife in a full set of silver anklets at the vegetable market, and a Jaipur bride in kundan on the same evening.
The head and the face
Borla and rakhdi, the married woman's forehead ornament
What it is: a round or bell-shaped ornament worn at the hairline, hung on a cord or chain along the parting of the hair.
- The names: in Marwar it is usually called the borla, and in Jaipur and Mewar more often the rakhdi. The shape and size change between communities.
- What it means: for many Rajasthani women it is a sign of marriage, given at the wedding and worn for life. Gold for some, silver for others.
- Where to look: watch women at Gangaur or Teej, when the borla comes out polished and bright with the festival clothes.
Sheesh phool and maang tikka
- Sheesh phool: a bridal headpiece of chains and small medallions that spreads over the head like a net, linking to the borla at the front.
- Maang tikka: a single pendant hung along the parting, more common in modern bridal sets across India and now worn widely in Rajasthan too.
Nath, the bridal nose ring
The large nath: a big gold hoop worn in the left nostril on the wedding day, often set with pearls and stones and held by a chain hooked into the hair.
- The everyday stud: after the wedding, many women wear a small stud called a laung, a clove, for its shape.
- Family pieces: a grandmother's nath is often lent to each bride in the family in turn, and some families keep one that is more than a century old.
Ears, from jhumka to the upper ear
Jhumka: the bell-shaped drop earring, often in kundan or enamel, which swings when the wearer turns her head. The most popular souvenir of all.
- Karnphool: a flower-shaped ear stud, sometimes worn with a jhumka hanging below it.
- Upper ear rings: in many village communities women wear several rings along the upper rim of the ear, and Rabari men wear heavy gold earrings too.
Neck, arms and hands
The aad, a Rajput bride's collar
What it is: a broad, flat choker of gold, often in kundan with hanging pearls or drops, worn close around the neck.
- Who wears it: traditionally Rajput married women, as part of the wedding set. Many families still give one at the wedding.
- Where to see old ones: in court portraits and in the jewellery displays of the old palaces, such as the City Palace in Jaipur.
Hansli and the silver neck rings of the villages
Hansli: a stiff, crescent-shaped ring of solid silver worn around the neck. The name comes from hansuli, the collarbone, where it rests.
- Weight matters: a heavy hansli is a statement of a family's means. Older pieces can weigh far more than you would expect from looking at them.
- Where: you will see them in Marwar, the Thar and the villages of the herders around Jawai.
Timaniya and the strung necklaces
- Timaniya: a necklace of gold pieces tied on a coloured cord, associated with Rajput women and worn at weddings and festivals.
- Beads and amulets: many village necklaces combine silver beads, coins and small amulets, each added at a different point in a woman's life.
Bajuband, the armlet
- What it is: a band of gold or silver tied around the upper arm, often with a cord and tassels, sometimes set with stones.
- Old and new: it appears on the arms of almost every queen and goddess in Rajput painting, and it is back in fashion with brides.
Chooda, kada and the bangles of marriage
Chooda: in several Rajasthani communities married women wear a set of bangles running up the arm, once of ivory or bone and now usually plastic.
- Kada: a solid bangle, often silver in the villages and gold in the towns, worn singly or in pairs.
- Lac bangles: the bright, stone-set bangles shaped over charcoal on Maniharon ka Rasta in Jaipur. Our guide to the bazaars of Jaipur shows the lane.
- Bangles at festivals: women buy new bangles for Teej and Gangaur, and the bangle sellers' stalls are busiest in the week before.
Hathphool and the thumb mirror
Hathphool: literally hand flower, a medallion on the back of the hand joined by chains to rings and a bracelet. Brides wear it with their mehndi.
- Aarsi: a thumb ring set with a small mirror, worn by brides in old courts so they could glance at their own faces. Old ones turn up at dealers.
- Pair it with henna: our page on mehndi explains the bridal henna that these pieces were designed to frame.
Waist and feet, where the silver sings
Silver below the waist: in many Hindu families gold is not worn on the feet, out of respect for the metal. That is why anklets and toe rings are nearly always silver.
Kandora: a waist chain or belt of silver links, worn over the skirt. Brides wear finer ones in gold-plated silver or gold.
- Waist chain
- Kandora or kardhani
- Heavy anklet
- Kadla, often solid silver
- Chained anklet
- Payal, with small bells
- Toe rings
- Bichhiya, a sign of marriage
- Metal
- Almost always silver below the waist
- Kadla: a solid, heavy anklet that sits on the ankle bone, worn by village women and herders. Some are so heavy that they are put on once and seldom taken off.
- Payal: the lighter chained anklet hung with tiny bells, worn by girls and women everywhere. It is the sound of a Rajasthani courtyard.
- Bichhiya: silver toe rings, usually on the second toe of both feet, worn by married women across much of north India.
- What to buy: a pair of payal is an easy, affordable gift. Old kadla are collectors' pieces and should be bought only from a dealer you trust.
Kundan, meenakari, polki and thewa
Kundan, stones set in pure gold foil
The method: a frame is filled with lac, and thin strips of highly refined gold are pressed and burnished around each stone until they grip it, without claws.
- The look: deep and glowing rather than sparkling, which is why it suits the uneven stones of old court jewellery.
- Jadau: a word you will hear for the same kind of gem-set work. Jaipur is its great centre, as our page on gems and jewellery explains.
Meenakari, enamel fired onto gold
The method: coloured glass powders are laid into engraved channels and fired one colour at a time, starting with the colours that need the most heat.
- Jaipur's reds: the city's enamellers are famous for a clear, deep red. Tradition credits Raja Man Singh I with bringing the craft to Amer, though that is hard to prove.
- Look at the back: fine kundan pieces are enamelled behind, and the quality of that hidden work is a fair test of the whole piece.
Polki, the uncut diamond
- What it is: diamonds left largely uncut, with a flat or gently faceted face, set in kundan. They are the diamonds of old Indian portraits.
- Buying: good polki is expensive and deserves the same care, and the same written description, as any fine diamond.
Thewa, gold on glass from Pratapgarh
What it is: a sheet of finely worked gold, with tiny scenes of hunts, gods or flowers, fused onto coloured glass. The result looks like gold lace floating on green or red.
- Where: it comes from Pratapgarh in southern Rajasthan, where a small number of goldsmith families have kept the technique within the family.
- Finding it: pieces turn up in Udaipur and Jaipur. Ask the jeweller to explain who made it, because copies in gold-coloured metal on glass are common.
The navaratna, nine stones for nine planets
- What it is: a setting of nine gems, one for each of the nine planets of Indian astrology, worn for protection and good fortune.
- Why you see it everywhere: many families buy stones on an astrologer's advice. A good jeweller will explain the tradition respectfully, and the usual buying rules still apply.
The silver of the desert and the herders
Community styles: Rabari, Meghwal, Bishnoi and other communities each have their own shapes and ways of wearing silver, and people from the district can tell them apart at a glance.
Men wear it too: Rabari men wear heavy gold or silver earrings with their white jackets and red turbans. Our page on the Rabari herders tells their story.
- Melted and remade: village silver was often melted down and remade for the next wedding, which is why truly old pieces are rarer than shops suggest.
- Where to see it worn: the markets and fairs of the Thar, the villages around Barmer, and the cattle fairs of Nagaur and Pushkar.
- Where to buy it: silversmiths and dealers around the Clock Tower and Sardar Market in Jodhpur, the old city of Udaipur and the lanes of the walled city in Jaipur.
- Respect the wearer: photograph jewellery on a person only with clear consent. Many women prefer that you photograph their hands or anklets rather than their faces.
Where to see it, and where to buy it
Jaipur, the capital of gems and kundan
Johari Bazaar: the jewellers' street that Sawai Jai Singh II laid out with the city in 1727, with the gem lanes of Gopalji ka Rasta and Haldiyon ka Rasta behind it.
- Collections: the costume galleries of the City Palace and the Amrapali Museum, a private collection of Indian jewellery and silver, are worth an hour before you shop.
- Making to order: family jewellers can design and make a piece during a stay of three or four nights. Our guide to gem shopping in Jaipur explains how.
Jodhpur, for old silver
- Around the Clock Tower: small jewellers sell anklets, toe rings and pendants, and a few dealers keep older tribal pieces in the back room.
- Pair it with: a morning at Mehrangarh, whose painting galleries show the jewellery of the Rathore court on the people who wore it.
Udaipur, for enamel, silver and thewa
- The old city: silver and enamel workshops sit in the lanes near the City Palace and the Jagdish temple, and thewa can be found here too.
- Look at the portraits: the painted rooms of the City Palace museum show Mewar's court jewellery in detail. Our Udaipur guide has more.
Bikaner and Shekhawati, merchant gold
- Bikaner: the bazaar has silver and gold for the city's old merchant families, as our Bikaner guide describes.
- Shekhawati: in the painted towns, look at the frescoes as well as the shops. The women painted on haveli walls wear exactly the jewellery described on this page.
How to buy without regret
Hallmarked gold: gold jewellery in India is hallmarked by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Ask to see the mark and the stated purity on the bill.
Silver purity: village silver varies a great deal. Good dealers will tell you plainly whether a piece is high-grade silver, low-grade alloy or plated.
- Gold
- Ask for the official hallmark
- Silver
- Priced by weight plus making
- Gems
- Independent lab report for valuable stones
- Antiques
- Over 100 years old cannot usually be exported
- Never
- Buy from strangers or commission shops
- Written descriptions: for anything valuable, ask for the metal, the weight, the stones and any treatment in writing, and keep every receipt.
- Stones: for a significant gem, ask for a report from an independent gem laboratory. A shop's own certificate is not the same thing.
- The old scam: never buy gems from a friendly stranger, never buy stones to resell at home, and never carry anything abroad for someone you have just met.
- Commission shops: ignore any jeweller suggested by a driver or a stranger. Our guides are paid never to take commissions, so the shops we visit have no reason to inflate prices.
- Antiques: Indian law treats objects over a hundred years old as antiquities, and they generally cannot leave the country. Talk to us before buying anything sold as very old.
- Shipping: take valuable pieces with you, or let us arrange insured, tracked shipping. Do not let a shop post a purchase for you unless we have set it up.
Wearing Rajasthani jewellery yourself
Start small: a pair of silver jhumkas, a lac bangle set or a payal is easy to wear at home and carries the look without a costume.
For a wedding: if you are a guest at a Rajasthani wedding, we can help you choose or borrow jewellery that suits the family's customs. Our piece on Rajput weddings explained covers the ceremonies.
- For your own celebration: at a palace wedding or a vow renewal, a dresser can complete a bridal look with hired kundan sets. Our destination weddings page explains what we arrange.
- With textiles: jewellery here is chosen with the cloth. A leheriya odhni with silver, or a red bandhani with gold, is the classic pairing. Our leheriya explained piece shows the patterns.
- With shoes: the outfit ends at the feet with embroidered leather slippers. Our piece on mojari shoes explains how to choose them.
- Respectful choices: the borla and toe rings mean marriage to many women. Wearing them as fashion is fine in a city, but in a village it can confuse or amuse.
Caring for it at home
Silver: wipe it with a soft cloth after wearing and store it in a sealed bag with a little chalk. Village silver that has darkened can be cleaned by any jeweller.
Kundan and meenakari: keep them away from perfume, water and knocks, wrap each piece separately and store it flat.
- Lac bangles: keep them out of hot cars and direct sun, where lac can soften and lose its stones.
- Thewa: the glass can crack if dropped. Store it in its own padded box.
- Keep the papers: file the bills, weights and any lab reports with the piece. Our aunts tuck a note into every jewellery box saying who made it and when.
Fitting jewellery into your journey
Jaipur first: give Jaipur at least three nights if jewellery matters to you. Our Jaipur itinerary shows how to fit the gem lanes around the forts.
A craft trail: our textile and craft trail links Jaipur's jewellers with the dyers, printers and silversmiths of Marwar.
- Where to stay: Rambagh Palace, once the home of Maharani Gayatri Devi, whose jewels were famous, or Samode Haveli inside the walled city, a short ride from Johari Bazaar.
- The right month: the winter wedding season and the days before Diwali, especially Dhanteras, show the bazaars at their busiest and brightest.
- The makers: our piece on the artisans we work with explains how we choose the families we visit and pay them fairly.