Why we stopped renting Bharatanatyam Jewelry ?

Dance jewelry renting is still a good business in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Trissur in south India. Many local dance jewellery shop keepers regularly rent many sets including Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dance costumes to groups of children who performs once or twice in a year. Even though they can afford to buy in most cases, many parents in India think it is very convenient to rent, use and return for one fourth of the buying cost. They can avoid the maintenance job too !

About six years ago, when we started IndiaMartInUSA.com we also thought of renting dance jewelry should be a good business model here in USA. We did rent dance jewelry and costumes for a while. Soon realized the maintenance and shipping charges are more than what we could charge from a customer. The customer also was paying too much in shipping charges. A dance costume which is only $120 was rented for $40. The customer paid anywhere from $22 to $30 for both ways shipping and ended up paying more than half of the cost of the dress just to use it for one time. As a business, we had to dryclean the dress each time it was back from renter. Some times we found Altha and marker dots and lines in the dance dress making it completely useless after one or two uses.

So the renting model for the dance jewellery and dance costumes didn't work out good. Today concentrate on the quality and delivery time of our dance jewelry and costumes and have real good customer base all over the world.

Thank you for the continuous support.

New Bharatanatyam costumes added to our product line !

This week we have added two different types of Bharatanatyam costumes to our product line at the online store of http://www.indiamartinusa.net/. One is made of Dharmavaaram type silk saree and the other one is made of art silk saree. Both will be stitched in India as per the measurements provided by the customer. The delivery time is around 4 – 6 weeks. Please check our readymade costume measurement chart, before ypu order custom made to see if some readymade size fits you. We already have dance practice costumes which can be used for Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi or Mohiniyattam dance practice lessons. The cost of our Bharatanatyam costumes are very reasonable. Please check out our website for more information. Apart from the Bharatanatyam dance costumes, we also have imitation temple jewellery and dance make-up accessories including false hair, Kunjalam, hair bun etc…

Types of Bharatanatyam jewelry

Most of the online stores selling Bharatanatyam jewelry has usually three different types of ornamants. The jewelry with red and white stones, imitation temple jewelry, and real temple jewelry. Out of all these, the cheapest is the first catagory. The base metal to make these and imitation temple jewelry are the same. Only the color and type of the stones are different. The real temple jewelry is made of silver and coated with gold. The stones used for this are the kemp stones imported from Srilanka.

New stock arrived !

Today we have updated our website with many fast moving items. Many of the "out-of-stock" items are now available. Have a look at the site. The temple jewelry set model IT TR75 is available now. We also have the 4 line long chain for Bharatanatyam as well as the fast moving Elakathaali.

Mohiniyattam Dance

Mohiniyattam is one of the classical dance forms of Kerala. It was mainly performed in the Temples of Kerala. It is also the heir to devadasi dance heritage like Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi. There is a story of Lord Vishnu taking on the guise of a mohini to enthrall people, both in connection with the churning of the milk ocean and with the episode of killing Bhasmasura
Mohiniyattam is based on the themes of love and devotion and more often the hero is Vishnu or Krishna. The audience can feel His invisible presence when the heroine or her maid details dreams and ambitions through the circular movements, delicate footsteps and subtle expressions. The movements are graceful like Odissi and the costumes sober and attractive.
The repertoire of Mohiniattam follows closely that of Bharatanatyam. Beginning with Chollukettu, the dancer performs Jathiswaram, Varnam, Padam and Thillana in a concert. Mohiniyattam like many other forms follows the Hasthalakshana Deepika as a text book of hand gestures. The style of vocal music for Mohiniattam is classical Karnatic.

MUSIC FOR MOHINIYATTAM

The vocal music of Mohiniyattam involves variations in rhythmic structure known as chollu. The lyrics are in Manipravalam, a mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam. The Mohiniyattam dance is performed to this accompaniment by the subtle gestures and footwork of the danseuse. The performer uses the eyes in a very coy yet sensual manner, the purpose being to enchant the mind without enticing the senses.

THE MOHINIYATTAM JEWELRY AND COSTUME

The costume in Mohiniyattam dance comprises of a white ‘kasavu’ saree, a decorated blouse and a waist garment. The edges are embellished with golden fabric know as kasavu kara. The makeup is simple. The face is treated with yellow and pink colored paste. The eyes are given a lining of black color. The lips are reddened. The hair is tied up and adorned with jasmine flowers.
Mohiniyattam jewellery is marked by its use of gold or gold plated jewelry. Usually Mohiniyattam jewellery set consists of necklaces, ‘vanki’ (armband), ‘oddiyanam’ (waistband), nose stud (Nath Bullaku) and ‘jimikki’ (swinging ear ornaments). Necklaces are basically of two types: ‘maangamala’ and ‘Kaasumala’. The ‘mangamala’ is made by linking together gem studded mango shaped pieces. The ‘kasumala’ is made by attaching gold coins together.
The pendants for the necklaces are shaped like swans, peacocks and parrots. Similar to mangamala or kasumala, the elakkathali is another famous traditional ornament in the Mohiniyattam Jewellery set. The oddiyanam is also gold plated which may sometimes have the picture of Goddess Lakshmi engraved in it. This particular type of oddiyanam is known as Lakshmi Belt. This plain Lakshmi Belt is very popular and often Bharatanatyam dancers use it as part of Bharatanatyam jewellery.

Bharatanatyam Jewellery

Temple jewellery belongs to the tradition of India, especially southern part of India. Olden days, Temple jewellery was worn by only Devadasi girls who perform dance in temple and in Darbars. Now a days, it is not uncommon to see south Indian brides wearing Temple Jewellery for their weddings. So today, one can say the Temple jewellery is traditional South Indian jewellery. The origin of Temple Jewellery dates back to 12th century. This was the period of famous Dravidian Tamil Dynasty known as “Chozha kulam” who ruled southern part of India. All the chozha kings gave very importance to cultural development and most of the of the temple jewelry today are similar to the designs in the heavily ornamented pillars with accurate details and rich sculpted walls of many south Indian Temples, especially ones in Thanjavur.

Today temple jewelry is prepared in a variety of metals. Originally it was made of gold with ruby, emerald & pearls and was used by the devadasi girls who danced in Temple and Darbars. Today Temple jewellery is mostly associated with Bharatanatyam dance. There are different types of Temple Jewellery manufactured today. Three of them are widely sold all over the world. Real Temple Jewellery, Imitation temple Jewellery and Stone type Temple Jewellery. Most of the real temple is made in Nagercoil, a southern city in Tamilnadu. These designs are quite unique which makes them more popular and adorable. These are made with silver and have a heavy coating of 22Ct gold over it. These are expensive and so imitation of expensive jewellery is also available on the market.

The most common Imitation Temple Jewelry set has 11 different ornaments. These are Long chain, Short necklace, Sun/Moon, Nethichutti, Mattal, Jimikky, Belt, Vanki, Rakkodi, Nath/Bullakku and bangles. Dancers also wear chilangai/salangai in the ankles during dance performance.