Wedding jewellery and their meanings/traditions

[Shoba Narayan]

Namaskara and Pranams to all:

I am doing some research on wedding jewellery. Why do we wear what we wear during weddings.

For example, what is the history and the meaning of the mangalsutra? Did men ever wear some such ornament to symbolise that they were married?

How did the Maharashtrian 'wati' become so different from the Tamil 'thaali.' How did the regional variations happen?

Why do women wear the Nath?

What about Vanki and Oddiyanam?

The nagavadams and other Kerala chokers. Was it because they touched hormonal glands?

Toerings or metti? Again, the location linked to nerves?

Bangles, especially the auspicious wedding ones like the Shaka-pola in Bengal.

I would be grateful for any references on this topic. It could be from the Puranas to the Shastras.

Sincerely,

Shoba

[shankara]

Namaste,

You may refer to the books in list give below. Most of these books are available online at archive.org.

Besidesthes, P.K. Gode's writings contain some articles on ancient Hindu ornaments, especially the nose ornament. All his writings are available online at archive.org, compiled under two titles - Studies in Indian Cultural History vols 1 to 3 and Studies in Indian Literary History vols 1 to 3.

1. A History of Indian Dress by Charles Louis Fabri 1960
2. Dress And Ornaments In Ancient India by Mohini Verma 1984
3. Indian Jewellery by Thomas Holben Hendley 1909 (Offprint From Journal of Indian Art)
4. Indian Jewellery, Dance of the Peacock by Usha R Krishnan, Bharath Ramamrutham 2006
   
5. Prachin Bharat Ke Prasadhan by Atridev Vidyalankar 1958
6. Prachin Bharatiya Vesha Bhusha by Motichandra 1950 alt
7. Prachin Bharatiya Vesha Bhusha by Roshan Alkaji 2002 (NBT)
8. Textile Industry in Ancient India by Joges Chandra Ray 1917 (JBORS)
9. Textile Manufactures & Costumes of the People of India by J Forbes Watson 1866
10. The Costume of Hindostan by Balt Solvyns 1804
11. The History of Indian Costume from the 3rd to 7th Century AD by Moti Chanda 1956

regards
shankara

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[shankara]

Sorry for the typos in my last mail.

regards
shankara

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[R. N. iyengar]

The Svarna shilpa shastra (ಸ್ವರ್ಣ ಶಿಲ್ಪ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ ) in Kannada by Lingamurthi and Jnanananda  is a mine of rare and original information that has come down in traditional families of jewelers and goldsmiths. This book has a  Sanskrit text माङ्गल्यशास्त्रम्  (ಮಾಂಗಲ್ಯ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ ) in four chapters with translation, figures, sketches etc. On the theory of traditional Indian jewelry nothing seems to match with the above monograph. PFA two page scans. 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Thanks , Prof. Iyengar for sharing this treasure of a book. 

It deserves to be brought into other Indian languages and English. 

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Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

Director,  Inter-Gurukula-University Centre , Indic Academy

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.

Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies, 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education, 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

 

 

 

[Gauri Mahulikar]

Hari Om!

Prof. Iyengarji,

Jnananandaji has so many works, stories, novels, translations, Balasahitya, research works and edited volumes.

All these are in Kannada script. Are they available in Devanagari?

Is the Sanskrit text Mangalya Sastra available in Devanagari script online?

This seems very interesting and treasure of cultural information.

warm regards

Prof. Gauri Mahulikar

Dean of Faculty, Chinmaya University

Veliyanad, Ernakulam, 682313

Former Prof & Head, Sanskrit Dept

Mumbai University

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[R. N. iyengar]

Namaste,  Prof.Mahulikar.

Your observation is correct. Dr,Jnanananda is a prolific writer on Vastu. Shilpa, Vedic Vishwakarma community etc. As far as I know the domain specific Sanskrit texts are not published in Devanagari script. Even the Shilpavidyarahasyopanishat edited by him, with the commentary of Kaumara is published by TTD is in Kannada script.  I have met Jnanananda and deeply impressed with his knowledge of our ancient culture and history, including temple architecture, sculpting, chariots etc with their Vedic, Puranic, spiritual backgrounds. He was working as a Mechanical Engineer but  took to his family tradition and has excelled in it. 

I agree with Prof. Paturi that Jnanananda's works should be made available in other languages. I understand some of his works appeared in Telugu translation in a journal called Svati.  

kind regards

RN Iyengar

[Shoba Narayan]

Thank you so much, Shankara Ji for the list of books, which I will research.

Thank you Shri. RNI for the reference. Let me try to find the Svarna Shilpa Shastra as a first step.

Namaste to all.

Shoba

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Now that some textual references are shared, let me come to the most immediate concerns that probably motivated the initiating post of the thread :

The contemporary generation is asking/looking for simple and straight answers to their why questions about our customs and traditions. While the textual references can provide authenticity to the answers we need to focus on direct one to one answers to these why questions. 

One important aspect, Smt Shoba Narayan -ji  that we need to keep in mind while attending to issues is that our Vedic /Sanskrit texts provide help in understanding the pan-Indic Hindu aspects , the local specificities come from what in the Vedic/Sanskritic tradition is called dEshaachaara = local traditions.. 

Vedic/ Sanskrit texts may not help in providing explanation for all the dEshaachaara aspects. 

For example, 

mangala sutra for north Indians is found in these images from google images page found for the key word 'mangala sutra'.

maangalyam for south Indians is shown in these images from google images page found for the key word 'mangalyam designs'. 

taaLi (spelt as thali) is the word in all the south Indian languages for the item shown in these images. 

This is what is being referred to in the thread initiating post as :  

For example, what is the history and the meaning of the mangalsutra? Did men ever wear some such ornament to symbolise that they were married?  

There is an implied understanding in these words that mangalasutra is worn by married Hindu women to symbolize that they are married. 

Smt Shoba Narayan -ji ,

The actual 'meaning' /intention of mangalasutra/maangalya/ taaLi is not to symbolize that woman wearing it is married. That symblism of it is only incidental. 

But the actual  'meaning' /intention of  mangalasutra/maangalya/ taaLi is a rakshaa or a talisman to secure the life of the tying person, the bridegroom. talisman-like magical objects were made from palm leaf drawings earlier to their being made on copper or other metal sheets in at least south India. That is probably the origin of the word taaLi. (taazh/taaL=palm). maangalyam is very similar. Probably that is the reason for the 'merger' of / synonimy  between the mangala sutra and taaLi traditions. 

A 'modern' early 20th century Telugu writer bit by the anti-tradition (anti-Hindu?) bug created by the enlightenment age excitement among the 'educated' of those times, one Sri Tapi Dharma Rao , in his book, 'Devalayala Mida Butubommalenduku?' = Why porographic images on temples , says that the shape of the taaLi is in the form of breasts. (Please check here if he is right. He saw only one design and overgeneralized it is obvious. ). 'It was intended to invoke the shape of breasts for the bridegroom /husband'.  Such were the moron thoughts of the enlightenment age excited anti-traditionals (anti-Hindu). 

Now, we have the interpretation of taaLi as a symbol of patriarchy, bondage /loss of freedom of women. 

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[Shoba Narayan]

Thank you Shri. Nagaraj Paturi Ji.

Regarding your below comment.

"But the actual  'meaning' /intention of  mangalasutra/maangalya/ taaLi is a rakshaa or a talisman to secure the life of the tying person, the bridegroom. talisman-like magical objects were made from palm leaf drawings earlier to their being made on copper or other metal sheets in at least south India. That is probably the origin of the word taaLi. (taazh/taaL=palm). maangalyam is very similar. Probably that is the reason for the 'merger' of / synonimy  between the mangala sutra and taaLi traditions."

I discovered an interesting parallel in Oppi Untracht's book, "Traditional Jewellery of India."

It says that the Kashmiri "dejharu" or "dejhoor" that women wear in their ears as a symbol of marriage has a drawing of the "wegu" which is the talismanic drawing that is drawn around babies (presumably to protect them).

I have been searching for what the "wegu" looks like but have not been successful so far. As a Srividya Upasaka, I wanted to check if it had any tantric elements.

My reason for asking about men wearing mangala sutra was because even women used to wear the yajnopavitha in the past but no longer.  So I wondered if men wore the mangalsutra in the past.  But that actually doesn't stand to reason because as you say above the mangalasutra was to secure the life of the husband (sustenance for the wife).  The husband did not need that provision from the wife so why wear it :)

I would like to respectfully add that as a working woman and a wife, perhaps both spouses should secure each other's lives, no?

Kind of like the Christian ring worn by both parties.

[Nagaraj Paturi]

 But that actually doesn't stand to reason because as you say above the mangalasutra was to secure the life of the husband (sustenance for the wife).  The husband did not need that provision from the wife so why wear it :)

The reasoning here seems to have basis in the belief that all cultural elements are rooted in sustenance, material/monetary support. 

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[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

On Sat, Sep 26, 2020 at 8:45 PM Shoba Narayan <sh...@shobanarayan.com> wrote:

I would like to respectfully add that as a working woman and a wife, perhaps both spouses should secure each other's lives, no?

Kind of like the Christian ring worn by both parties.

 Married Dvija men have to wear an extra Yajnopavita to show they are Gruhasthas. For doing any Mangala Karya like special Puja, Homa, Upanayana, Vivaha of son or daughter and other ceremonies the wife should be compulsorily present beside the husband. Husband cannot do it alone without wife. The famous story is about Rama could not do Ashwamedha Yajna without Seeta. They made a golden statue of Seeta and kept it with Rama. 

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Regards

 

-Venkatesh