May
19
2009
Beads of India
Author: SamIndia is known as ‘The Mother of Beads.’ It gets the honor because it is home to three major bead industries, glass, stone and clay for well over 4000 years and began in Arikamedu, India. This region was populated by sophisticated people called the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization. Back in the day, they exported these gem minerals beads to Mesopotamia, the Levant and then to Egypt. Through the years, bead making centers have changed, but the source for agates and carnelians has always been found in the riverbeds of lower Narmada River.The source of the stones remain the same and also the way in which they are turned into beads has changed very little. Evidence of large-scale drawn-glass beadmaking has been found by archeologits in Arikamedu. Glass was used to create false gems and the production of these glass beads continued with little interruption up to the 17th century, constituting the largest and longest-lived glass bead industry.
The traditional tools to make the beads were handmade bows, a sheep’s knuckle and a bowl of water. In this current century, electricity has been added to a few steps in the grinding and polishing. Also, the technology of the double-tipped diamond drill, but the drill is powered by a ‘hand-driven’ bow. Mass Manufacturing of beads has made the traditional hand-made bead a lucrative business for the bead artisan due to the fact that they are hand-made by the traditional way.
India’s Beads have played a diverse role throughout time, as religious artifacts or a medium of exchange and currency. Beads with blue dots were traded for palm oil. Yellow beads were often traded for gold. India’s beads also have a significant spiritual meaning. The traditional bead craft is done by women who sit together in the shade protected from the hot afternoons, picking up the beads, one by one to form the tight honeycomb patterns that depict their world. Depicting parrots, peacocks, trees or a lotus flower. Enticing more tourist, not only Mumbai Bombay Hotel have been known allow the trading of beads by the locals in and around their establishment, but at the local farmer’s markets and coffeshops, you will find bartering going on and India’s beads used as trade.
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Tags: Beads, Bombay, hotels, India, knuckles, Mesopotamia, Mumbai