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THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CULTURE |
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ORNAMENTS.
THERE IS A WIDE DIFFERENCE between ornaments used by
the urban and the rural people as also by the rich and the poor.
Sometimes a caste-wise differentiation in the wear of ornaments
persists. Ornaments also differ in type as used by men and women and
by boys and girls. Ladies in the urban areas go in for light and
delicate ornaments set in patterns of gold and precious stones. Rich
ladies in the villages wear mostly solid gold ornaments. Ornaments
used for the feet are made of silver. Poorer village-folks, wear
ornaments made of silver, copper, brass, and stone and glass beads.
In the making of ornaments now-a-days, the tendency to replace gold,
silver and precious stones with alloys like 'yellow metal',
artificial jewels and cultured pearls is on the increase. Due to
enormous increase (over 400 per cent.) in the prices of precious
metals like gold and silver since 1937, the use of these metals for
the making of ornaments has considerably dwindled.
Male Ornaments.
It is no more a fashion now for men to wear
ornaments extensively. However, a sahukar or saraf may
be found wearing a pearl earring called bhikbali, a gold
wristlet known as poci and a gold necklace called goph
or kantha. A young man sometimes takes a fancy to wear round
his neck a thin gold chain with a central locket. Persons wearing
gold rings, called pavitraka, and angthis studded with
pearls and precious stone (natural or artificial), are not rare.
Buttons, links, studs, collar-pins, tie-pins, wrist watches made of
precious metals and set with precious stones are often found in the
wear of rich persons. Rajkadya, bhikbali and
caukada of gold as ear ornaments, kade of silver for
the wrist, karagota of silver as a waist belt, are found in
the wear of rustics.
Fashions in female ornaments have undergone
considerable change during the last fifty years, the general
tendency being towards avoiding gold ornaments of heavy weight. The
following is the list of ornaments in the wear of well-to-do ladies
at present:-
Female-Ornaments.
Head ornaments of any sort are now generally out of
fashion. However, some old types like mud, agraphul,
ketki-kevda gulabace phul, veni,
rakhadi, bindi-bijor, candra-surya,
naga-gonde, and gonde-phule (all made of gold) still
persist to some extent.
Ear ornaments.-Caukadi and kude,
preferably of pearls and of precious stones, are still in vogue.
Earrings of various types are now getting into fashion.
Neck ornaments.-Mangala-sutra of various
types, the black beads being stringed together by different patterns
of gold chain work, is now-a-days used as an ornament. Besides,
necklaces known as candrahara, capalahara,
jondhli-pota, tandli-pota, bakulihara,
puspahara, pohehara, mohanmala, putlyaci
mala, bormala, kolhapuri saja,
ekdani sari and vajratika (all made of gold)
and petya, pota, laphpha, tanmani and
pende, made of pearls, are in current use.
Hand ornaments.-Kankane (bangles) of patterns
known as diamond, hodighat, tinpailu,
pancpailu, bilor, double-diamond, Calcutta pattern, Delhi
pattern, Madras pattern and patlya (wristlets) known as
todicya, purnacya, jalicya, pailucya,
phasyacya or minyacya, all made of gold, are current.
Costlier bangles studded with pearls, diamonds and precious stones
are also in vogue among the rich families.
Armlets or vakyas of the types known as
rudragath, tulabandi, hatricya and
modavakya are still in wear.
Nose ornaments.-Nath, murani,
mugvata and phuli, camki, made of pearls and
studded with precious stones, are current.
Child Ornaments.
Child ornaments.-Bindalya, managatya,
kaditode, vale and cala, toradya and
sakhli, hasali, made either of gold or silver, are
current.
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