Gold Bangle, Kada

India, Gujarat, 19th century

SKU: C60

Gold bangle, KADA, of which the band is decorated with granulation and stamped decorative elements. The protruding central element shaped as a KALASHA (temple tower) and consisting of multiple layers of clustered twisted wire and granulation. The inside of the band has a hammered inscription.

 In many different designs distinguishing various species, the flower is in fact the ultimate symbol for femininity and fertility – the female pudendum, the womb, and the birth-giver. The color red also symbolizes fertility, but it symbolizes life as well. Therefore red stones are often mounted in jewellery with flower motifs.

In India bangles and bracelets are the jewellery that has been crafted from the widest variety of materials, from terracotta and shell to lac and gold. The designs are even as various as the material, from simple plain circlets of metal to animal(heads). To the woman in India ornaments for the wrist have always been significant emblems of marriage. Woman in India never allows her arm to be completely bare.

Literature

Krishnan & Kumar​Dance of the Peacock, page 184

Hendley, Thomas​Traditional Jewellery of India, plate 98, ill. 673

Untracht, Oppi​Traditional Jewelry of India, page 249, ill. 555 & 556