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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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