JEWELLERY. Jauhar, Zewar, HIND. Work ing in gold was familiar to the Egyptians before the exodus of the Israelites ; and Hindus have long been acquainted with its applications, as in the hymns of Rig Veda golden armour and golden chariots, and decorations of gold and jewels, are frequently mentioned.
The custom of wearing jewellery has doubt less been through all ages, and is alluded to in Isaiah iii. 16, 18. Some jewels of the Hindus are inconveniently massive ; and heavy rings, usually of silver set with a fringe of small bells, are often worn by Hindu ladies. Hindu women wear loose ornaments one above another on their ankles, which at every motion of the feet produce a tinkling noise. Armlets and bracelets of gold and silver are worn alike by Hindus and Muhammadans, and by men and women. They are of gold or silver, some in the form of massive carved rings, some as lockets ; the more expensive, worn by royalty, are the bazu-band, literally armlets. These are generally worn as ornaments, and since the most ancient times like ear-rings (Genesis xxxv. 4; Exodus xxxii. 3, 4 ; Hosea ii. 13 ; Judges viii. 24), the fporrat in aures, often of gold, like those of the Ishmaelites. But they are often caskets contain ing, as with the Muhammadans, charms, their ta'viz, or, as with the Jangam sect of Hindus, the phallic lingam. Their ornaments are often worn round the neck like the golden bulla and leather torum of the Roman youth, or as in Proverbs vi. 21, and most women have frontlet ornaments such as are alluded to in Deuteronomy vi. 8. Bracelets are also largely worn by all classes, of both ages and sexes, of every material, but those of the humbler women are principally of coloured glass and ornamented with lac and brass. In the East Indies and British India, personal orna ments and armour form the principal subjects for refined decorations. The silver work, filigree, gilt, chased, or engraved,—the koftgari work, iron or steel, inlaid or otherwise ornamented with gold, —bedri work, inlaid with silver, from the Dekhan and elsewhere,—are employed on bracelets, neck laces, shields, sword-hilts, and so km ; while the brass from Madras, Benares, and othr places, are utensils, goblets, etc., used in worn ip. In all
these, fineness and elaboration, both in esign and workmanship, are held in the highest es em, and secondary qualities of this • kind produce good results in small articles of luxury.
Rings for the fingers and toes, rings for the nose and ears ; bracelets, armlets, anklets, nose-jewels, neck-chains, a piece of gold for the forehead ; ear, hair, and head jewels ; chains and zones of gold and silver for the waist, are personal ornaments in daily use amongst the men and women of Muhammadans and Hindus in British India. Several of these are enumerated in Ezekiel xvi. 11, 12: I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck ; and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears,' etc. ; and xxiii. 40 says, Thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, oral deckedst thyself with ornaments;' Proverbs xi. 22 speaks of a jewel of gold in a swine's snout ; a ring in the septum of the nose being a very common ornament among the Hindu and Muham madan women ; another nose ornament, the nat'h, being placed in the left ala.
No specimen of the art of gold-working has been met with which can with any certainty be attributed to the ancient period of Indian history. The oldest example now extant was found by Mr. Masson about the year 1836 in a Buddhist tope in the neighbourhood of Jalalabad. In the centre of the tope was a small apartment constructed of squares of slate. A steatite vase was found in it, containing, besides mould and the ashes of burnt pearls, a gold casket filled with similar remains. By its side were four copper coins, by which the monument is assigned to one of the dynasty of Greco-barbaric kings who ruled the N.W. of India about half a century before the Christian era.