Vanity,
a love of opulence and deep aesthetic sense gave the Rajas and Ranas of
Rajasthan a great fondness for jewellery. The men were as elaborately and
dazzling dressed as the women, with jewelry that often rivaled that of
their wives. It was a status symbol and a portable display of wealth, and
consequently, power Turban jewellery was the prerogative of king, his
close family or the members of his entourage (including his horse).
The
turbian itself would be heavily encrusted (with jewels and fastened with a
gem set kalangi or aigrette. Men also wore necklaces of pearls and
precious stones, earrings, jeweled sashes around their waists and several
rings on every finger. The ornament worn in front on the turban is called
a sarpech. It was often extended into a golden band set with emeralds,
rubies, diamonds.
Pearls were greatly valued by the Maharajas
and they often wore double or triple strings of pearls with pendants of
precious stones round their necks. The sashes round their waists were
heavily jewelled as were the clasps or buckles of their sword belts. They
wore armlets and amulets around their forearms, and their wrists strings
of pearls and bracelets of gold and gems. Even the slippers of the royalty
were encrusted with pearls and gems.
Emperors wore rings of
diamonds emeralds, rubies and other precious stones at least one on each
finger and often more. Traditionally gold is not enough on the feet since
it is considered a metal of the gods, but in Rajasthan the anklet of gold
worn on one or both feet by men was a sign of nobility.
Tod's
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan notes that after the siege of
Chittaur, the equivalent of 170 lbs. Of gold bangles or anklets were found
on the bodies of men who had fallen, all the men who wore them having been
of noble blood or knights. Masculine jewellery was not confined to the
articles worn on the body alone. The Rajasthani princes had gold epaulets,
gem encrusted sword hilts.
Dagger sheath swords scabbards and
hookah mouthpieces. Their horses were as finely bedecked as they
themselves were, and it is said that the horse of Rajasthani Maharaja was
worth more than our cities on account of the jewels he wore. The commoner
of Rajasthan has traditional worn jewellery too, though what he wears is
made from more modest metals like silver and gems are substituted by
colored glass. Earrings, armlets and anklets of silver are still commonly
seen adorning the rural Rajasthani male. Males also wear necklace,
earnings and lucky charms, which are considered to ward off evil.