Jewellery

Jewellery

Pahari jewellery is artistic and elaborate. It has the vigour and sturdiness of style that comes from nature itself. The designs are borrowed from simple motifs like seeds, flowers and leaves and developed into exquisite patterns. While different communities wear jewellery unique to their traditions, some ornaments are worn all over. These include the hemispherical boss or chak – worn on the crown and both sides of the head. Neck ornaments are important in all districts – from collar like hansli or small pendants called toke. The Pahari variant of the torque is a long necklace of numerous chains linked together by silver plaques. Chandanhaar is a necklace comprising five or seven rows of facetted gold beads. One of the most cherished neckpieces is a coin necklace. The choker worn here is called kach and consists of silver beads and triangular plaques. Earrings are often worn with drops or granulations, nose studs are embedded with precious and semiprecious stones and often, an ornament of pendants is strung to it. Chiri tikka is a flat piece of silver, enamelled or embedded with pearls and suspended from the centre of the forehead while several chains hang along the hairline on both sides.

The jutti is a heavy bunch of silver tassels or flowers, attached to the plait while a smaller ornament, beshtar is tied to the plait ends. Men, women and children often wear silver amulets to ward off evil spirits – a tradition carried to the hills from the plains. In lower Himachal, there is a marked preference for gold ornaments while deeper in the villages, silver is more common. While there is a basic homogeneity in the jewellery and style of adornment, each community has ornaments distinct to it. Some important towns for buying hill jewellery are Moti Bazaar in Mandi, Chaugan bazaar in Chamba, Kangra town, Sultanpur and Kullu. There is also a village called Sunarion ki Gaon near Rohru, where many families are engaged in jewellery fashioning.