Gems & Jewellery in Indian mythology

Indians have always been the largest consumers of gold, even from the days of the Roman Empire (around the first century BCE), when the Romans filled the coffers of the Indian kings with gold in exchange for exotic animals and spices, sugar, dyes, pearls and fine muslin cloth. Endowed with superior metallurgical skills, Indians turned the gold into beautiful pieces of jewellery that adorned the bodies of men and women.

Not surprisingly then that jewels and ornaments have been an indispensable part of Indian mythology.

A sweeping view of the instances where gems and jewellery feature prominently in our stories throws up a few recurring patterns on how they have been used as common motifs to convey certain ideas.

One major idea that ornaments have been used to convey is that of purity and virtuousity.

For instance, in the most famous story about ornaments and indeed named after one - Silapathigaaram (literally meaning the chapter/episode of an anklet), Kannagi the protagonist uses her anklet to prove her husband’s innocence. Her anklet is filled with rubies whereas, the one that her innocent husband Kovalan is charged of stealing (a crime for which he is wrongly convicted and killed) has pearls in it. She breaks open hers in the court of the Pandya king and the blood-red rubies falling out from the broken anklet serve to uphold her husband’s integrity.

Although, in Kannagi’s story, her anklet could not help bring her dead husband back to life, in the story of Abhirami Bhattar, the earring of Goddess Abhirami (an incarnation of Parvathi) actually saves his life. Once, Abhirami Bhattar a great devotee of Goddess Abhirami, while meditating on the moon-like lustrous face of the goddess, mistakenly told his king that a particular day was a full moon day when it was actually a new moon day. The king of course took the Bhattar's statement as wanton dishonesty and sentenced him to death if the moon did not rise in the sky as predicted. Cornered by the turn of events, the Bhattar fervently appealed to the goddess who saved the day and his life by throwing her dazzling earring into the sky where it shone like the full moon. Thus did the goddess prove her devotee's virtuousity to the world.

In another test of purity, this time of friendship, there is an interesting story about Karna in the Mahabharatha. One day, in Duryodhana’s absence, Karna was playing dice with Bhanumathi, Duryodhana’s wife, in the harem. Just as the game got very exciting, Duryodhana entered the harem. Seeing her husband walk in, Bhanumathi sprung up from her seat to go receive him. But, Karna who had not seen Duryodhana enter, was surprised to see Bhanumathi leap up suddenly. In a swift act to stop her from walking away from the game, he made a grab for her waistband (mekala). His tug at the band caused it to snap and the pearls to scatter all over the floor. Bhanumathi froze in confusion and fear. Only then did Karna take note of Duryodhana’s presence there. And when he did, he shrunk back with shame and horror over what he had done; his had been a deplorable and discourteous act, even if spontaneous! No friend would ever pardon such misdemeanour!

But the honourable Duryodhana remained unperturbed by what he had seen. Without blinking an eye but with a smile on his face, he calmly addressed the two and asked them if he should help them collect the pearls or help in stringing them back!!

Such was the purity of Duryodhana’s friendship with Karna, brought to the fore by the episode of the pearl-studded mekala.

Apart from serving as a touchstone for a person’s culpability or otherwise, ornaments have also been used to establish one’s identity as seen in the cases of Karna’s earrings and Rama’s ring.

In the show of skills organised at Hastinapura, it was Karna’s earrings (along with his armour) that helped Kunti identify him as her forsaken son.

The Ramayana extensively uses ornaments like we use our Aadhaar J, as unshakeable proof of one's identity. While being carried away by Ravana, Sita shrewdly used her ornaments to leave a trail of her abduction by scattering them on the ground below all the way to Lanka. This (expensive!) trail was later picked up by Rama and Lakshmana who followed it all the way to the Rishyamukha mountain, where they met with Hanuman. Later, at Kishkinda, Sugriva handed over some more of Sita's ornaments, that he had retrieved, to Rama.

Interestingly, in one of the versions of the Ramayana, Lakshmana’s chastity is demonstrated when he fails to recognise any of Sita’s ornaments other than her anklets because he had never seen Sita’s face or any part of her body but had always sought blessings at her feet and could thus recognise only her anklet!

And later in the story, as Sita sat grieving her fate in Ravana’s palace garden, ironically called the Ashokavana (a forest without sorrow), Hanuman dropped Rama’s ring on to Sita’s lap from the tree above before presenting himself to her. The ring helped prove Hanuman’s identity as Rama’s messenger to Sita. In return, Sita handed over her sudamani another of her ornaments (apparently, she still had some stock left with her even after jettisoning several!) to Hanuman, to convey her wellbeing to her husband.

In Kalidasa’s epic, Shakunthala is given a signet ring by Dushyantha that helps the king remember her when suffering from a memory lapse caused by Durvasa's curse. Yet another case of identity, lost and found!

Well, these were some instances where jewellery helped bring about positive twists in the stories. But, that was not always the case. Remember the picture of Kaikeyi, who lay on the floor, shorn of all ornaments, sulking away, waiting to place her demands before Dasharatha? A woman who shed some miscellaneous jewellery so she could gain the kingdom for her son – that’s some return on investments!! Anyway, the picture of Kaikeyi denuded of ornaments rattled Dasharatha so much that he agreed to change the course of Ayodhya’s royal history.

Apart from jewellery, gems too have had a considerable role to play in our stories. While they have been frequently referred to as having life giving properties and as bestowers of prosperity, sometimes, they also brought on ill-luck to their owners.

A classic example of the former is the Mritasanjivani gem and that of the latter is the Syamanthaka gem.

The Mritasanjivani gem was used by Ulupi, the Naga princess whom Arjuna married, to revive the Pandava’s life when he was killed by his son Babruvahana's in a battle. In line with the common belief that snakes are the guardians of gems, the Mritasanjivani was owned by the Nagas and had the power to bring back the dead to life.

The Syamanthaka mani on the other hand gem bestowed mixed fortunes upon its owners. Although the gem that gave the sun god Surya his exuberant brilliance had the power to bring prosperity to the place of its residence, its journey through the various hands it passed into was mostly tumultuous and bloody. At a point in the gem’s journey, even Lord Krishna was suspected of coveting it. And desire for the gem eventually led to the death of its original owner (Satrajit) and those who tried to wear it (Prasen and a lion). In short, the gem brought on only misfortune for those who tried to possess it – not surprising then that the Syamanthaka mani is believed by many to be the infamous Kohinoor diamond!!

Yet another story, where a jewel that had the power to bestow prosperity and good health but was sadly lost to human frailties, is that of Ashwathama. Ashwathama was born with a jewel on his forehead, which kept fear, disease and hunger at bay. But after his brutal murder of the unsuspecting sons of the Pandavas at the end of the war, Lord Krishna took the jewel away from him causing the dent on his forehead (where the jewel lay embedded) to rot with blood and pus. Additionally, Ashwathama was cursed to spend eternity on the earth in that repulsive condition!!

There are more stories of jewellery waiting to be told from Greek and Norse mythology too. Will keep that for later….