Temple jewelry is the name given to certain kinds of traditional jewelry originating in southern India. Temple jewelry is strongly associated with classical forms of Indian dance that are often part of spiritual and devotional activities, especially the Bharatanatyam form of dance. For this reason, it's also called dance jewelry.
A true set of temple jewelry includes ten separate pieces — not only necklaces and bracelets but also earrings, ear chains, diadems, chains for the waist and most especially anklets. These anklets are known as gajjalu in some regions of India; they are a key feature of Bharatanatyam dance. Gajjalu are made from leather thongs or from twine, on which small bells are hung. As the wearer moves, the bells jingle. According to tradition, the more talented the dancer, the more sound would be heard from the bells.
Today, it's very easy to find beautiful temple jewelry that's perfect for many different occasions. Anyone who hopes to perform classical Indian dance properly needs a fine set of traditional dance jewelry. Temple jewelry is also the perfect adornment for more traditional occasions.
Showing posts with label temple jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temple jewelry. Show all posts
Friday, June 7, 2013
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Tradition and trends in Indian Saree: Part 1
Trends may come and trends may go, but the inclination to drape a Saree goes on forever… this is very much true of women originating from the Indian culture. Ask one what she would prefer to wear for a special occasion and the answer without a moment of hesitation will be “saree”.
There is no dress that complements an Indian woman the way a saree does. Whatever be the style of draping the saree, it simply adorns her like a jewel and makes her the epitome of beauty.
A saree is nothing but a long strip of uncut and unstitched fabric that can be draped around a woman in different styles. It is usually worn along with a short blouse and a skirt-like petticoat. It is also the traditional wear of Indian women and has been in practice for many centuries. There is even a mention of “Darupati’s saree” in the famous Indian epic, the Mahabaratha. This is proof enough that women wore a saree during the ancient times as well.
A saree is classified into different types based on the fabric or material and the decoration or work on the same. Based on the above assumption, sarees can be broadly classified into categories such as:
- Silk saree
- Cotton saree
- Poly cotton saree
- Silk cotton saree
- Synthetic saree
- Georgette saree
The above mentioned classification is just some major categories and not an all-inclusive list. Among silk sarees, Kancheepuram saree and Benaras silk sarees hold a lot of precedence. Bengal cotton, Mangalagiri cotton, etc are a few that are well acclaimed among cotton sarees. Venkatagiri silk cotton, Benarasi silk cotton, etc are a few varieties from the silk cotton line.
These sarees are also available in numerous hues and shades, with a variety of designs or decorations on them as well. Whatever may be the occasion, a wedding, an official meeting, a casual party or get-to-gether, there is saree for every occasion.
Blouse is an important part of the costume. A well designed and stitched blouse serves to complement the saree. Blouses can be sported in different models and can help in making the overall appearance trendy or traditional.
There is no dress that complements an Indian woman the way a saree does. Whatever be the style of draping the saree, it simply adorns her like a jewel and makes her the epitome of beauty.
A saree is nothing but a long strip of uncut and unstitched fabric that can be draped around a woman in different styles. It is usually worn along with a short blouse and a skirt-like petticoat. It is also the traditional wear of Indian women and has been in practice for many centuries. There is even a mention of “Darupati’s saree” in the famous Indian epic, the Mahabaratha. This is proof enough that women wore a saree during the ancient times as well.
A saree is classified into different types based on the fabric or material and the decoration or work on the same. Based on the above assumption, sarees can be broadly classified into categories such as:
- Silk saree
- Cotton saree
- Poly cotton saree
- Silk cotton saree
- Synthetic saree
- Georgette saree
The above mentioned classification is just some major categories and not an all-inclusive list. Among silk sarees, Kancheepuram saree and Benaras silk sarees hold a lot of precedence. Bengal cotton, Mangalagiri cotton, etc are a few that are well acclaimed among cotton sarees. Venkatagiri silk cotton, Benarasi silk cotton, etc are a few varieties from the silk cotton line.
These sarees are also available in numerous hues and shades, with a variety of designs or decorations on them as well. Whatever may be the occasion, a wedding, an official meeting, a casual party or get-to-gether, there is saree for every occasion.
Blouse is an important part of the costume. A well designed and stitched blouse serves to complement the saree. Blouses can be sported in different models and can help in making the overall appearance trendy or traditional.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Treasure found in Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple
Can you believe it? Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple will the richest Hindu temple in the entire world !!! As of last week, while the stock taking was only 70% complete, the estimated value of thousands of precious stones, Gold necklaces, Gold deities and other valuable jewelry were about 11 billion US dollars. One more secret chamber is yet to be opened !!!
It was identified by a special committee appointed by Supreme court that temple has a total of six chambers. With couple of chambers yet to be opened and the first chamber accounting ending Saturday (2 July 2011), it is expected that the inventory process may continue for a few more days.
Other items found today includes several Gold statues each weighing almost 5 pounds and Gold Jewelry necklaces as long as 3.5 meters and crowns decorated with Emeralds, Diamonds and Rubies. They also found a 4 feet tall statue of Lord Vishnu made of Gold.
The list of Temple Jewelry and other valuables in the treasure found in Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple are:
Hundred thousand Gold Coins, Precious Diamonds like Indraneelam, Belgium Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies,
Thousand Sarappoli Gold Chains, Rare Priceless Gems, Gold Crowns like Kulashekharaperumal Crown,
Kashu Mala Necklaces, 400 Gold Necklaces with Marathakam stone, Gold Plates (Swarna Thalika), Gold Chains of about 18 ft, Golden Idol of Padmanabha Swamy, Gold Dhanuss, Gold Pathakams, 4 Feet tall Golden statue of Lord Vishnu with precious emeralds, Golden Umbrellas, Gold Pots, Kumbheeyam, Gold/Silver Nilavilakku, Other Kerala traditional Jewelry of various kind.
Hope all the wealth is used for good purpose / growth of the state and the polititians do not steal it as usual.
It was identified by a special committee appointed by Supreme court that temple has a total of six chambers. With couple of chambers yet to be opened and the first chamber accounting ending Saturday (2 July 2011), it is expected that the inventory process may continue for a few more days.
Other items found today includes several Gold statues each weighing almost 5 pounds and Gold Jewelry necklaces as long as 3.5 meters and crowns decorated with Emeralds, Diamonds and Rubies. They also found a 4 feet tall statue of Lord Vishnu made of Gold.
The list of Temple Jewelry and other valuables in the treasure found in Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple are:
Hundred thousand Gold Coins, Precious Diamonds like Indraneelam, Belgium Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies,
Thousand Sarappoli Gold Chains, Rare Priceless Gems, Gold Crowns like Kulashekharaperumal Crown,
Kashu Mala Necklaces, 400 Gold Necklaces with Marathakam stone, Gold Plates (Swarna Thalika), Gold Chains of about 18 ft, Golden Idol of Padmanabha Swamy, Gold Dhanuss, Gold Pathakams, 4 Feet tall Golden statue of Lord Vishnu with precious emeralds, Golden Umbrellas, Gold Pots, Kumbheeyam, Gold/Silver Nilavilakku, Other Kerala traditional Jewelry of various kind.
Hope all the wealth is used for good purpose / growth of the state and the polititians do not steal it as usual.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Differences between classical Indian dance styles in terms of Natya Shastra, Tantra, calligraphy, mechanical engineering and psychiatry
By Ashwini Shankar, Chennai
The topics touched in this article will be:
Padma Subrahmanyam's elucidation of Natya Shastra's Recakas
* Role of Recakas in producing Rasas
* What makes the dance attractive, beautiful and interesting
* Kaisiki vs. robotic movements in terms of mechanical engineering
* Why classical Indian dance proper is a solo dance
* Laya and 22 Sruthis
* Why Bharata Muni didn't allow men to sing (and the proof that most dancers and rasikas are actually deaf)
* Why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes
* Anga Suddham, modes of movements and calligraphy
* The Tantric explanations of everything in terms of 3 gunas, 5 elements, the vrittis and more
* Difference between true art, factory-produced merchandise, and garbage
In her book on the Karanas, Padma Subrahmanyam boldly attempted to pinpoint what is dance and what is not. She builds much of her explanation around the term Recaka. To give you an idea of what the mind-boggling variety of, for example, the Pada (feet) Recakas alone include, these "may utilize the space on the sides, move forward, slip or glide, waver, quiver, shake, proceed, turn away, swerve, sway, get pushed, jerk, slide, raise, lower, draw, release or whirl." Padma Subrahmanyam says, though, that Recakas "cannot be enlisted or enumerated." She also uses the terms Prthagbhava (clearly / sharply outlined) and Valana (smooth / blurred) components of movement saying that a performance that makes use of both masterfully "can never be boring even for the uninitiated." All this makes sense, while I am yet to understand her identification of Anga Suddham with Prthagbhava alone.
Alathur Vijayakumar, the founder of Kalavardhanis, thought he discovered America when he said that he arrived at a formula that detects the "presence of grace" (or rather, the presence of life) in a particular dance sequence. Any robotic movement (which the break dance or army soldiers marching seeks to emulate) can very accurately be described in terms of velocity (V) and acceleration (V²) and jerk (V³). Padma Subrahmanyam says, "...if the intensity (of movement) is constant, the actions suffer a lack of variety. The lines may be defined, lucid and distinct in every action with clarity even in the divergence of the movements. In such a convoy of actions, every movement follows disconnectedly, without getting dissolved into one another. Hence there is a danger of killing grace." She says that the word Valana signifies that "each movement glides into another in a graceful manner."
Any psychiatrist or graphologist will tell you that if the letters in your handwriting are not connected, it means you think incoherently, and you have a good chance of becoming a schizophrenic in the future. Exposure to the schizophrenic dance performances is tantamount to eating food full of chemical pesticides. The organic movements full of life, especially the kaisiki (graceful feminine) type movements, are extremely complex and each is unique (just like every live flower is unique) as the expression of the dancer's manodharma. Their presence in dance can only be approximately described in terms of infinite number of components: V, V², V³,..., V∞ , and the speed graph will be way too complex.
The slight deviations from the impeccably "perfect" computer-generated standard are inherent in classical Indian dance. The deviations that create beauty are predominantly Sattvic, though, depending on the character, they may contain a good dose of Rajas. The ugly deviations are the results of the dancer's laziness or inability to follow the proper trajectory (Anga Suddham). These are the Tamasic deviations (look at the 3 words "Dance" again).
Now, there are some politically incorrect and undemocratic conclusions that the senior dancers who hate Bharata Muni will abhor. Even if you are born with the Sattva as the dominant component of your ("Brahmin") nature, your body, emotions and mind will be more Rajasic in the teenage years, and will be gradually more and more Tamasic as you grow older. (Yoga is the only method of changing this tendency). Our ability to understand, to remember, and to learn something new depends on the amount of Sattva in us.
I find it very amusing when the "senior" dancers dare to say that they somehow "explore the Sringara rasa" even though their recitals are devoid of many of the 10 kinds of grace of the Sahaja type and of most of the 7 of A-yantaja type, all of which are part of the Valana-rich Kaisiki and all of which, according to Bharata Muni, can be found in the movements of young women only. A very interesting element of beauty is among the 10 Sahaja graces: Vicchitti (dishabille) is "the great beauty that results from the slightly careless placing of garlands, clothes, ornaments and unguents."
Why is the classical Indian dance proper a solo dance? Factory-produced latex flowers can be compared with the dance styles that are suitable for group performances where the dancers perform identical movements at the same time. To achieve the perfect "synchronization," the movements have to be as plain ("perfect-shaped") as the latex orchids (or one of the 3 words "Dance" on the right). Live flowers are never perfect-shaped and never have "geometric" appearance. If you are half-blind, the easiest method of detecting latex flowers is to smell them. No fragrance, no rasa. (Make sure the smell is not coming from your own hair where you had poured half a bottle of expensive perfume). "Recakas impearl the Nritta, make it shine and cause complete aesthetic satisfaction," says Padma Subrahmanyam. Recakas are like spices in food. Well, the food has to be bland enough to please the western palate.
In Tantra, the square represents the angular, robust and firm element of earth and Muladhara chakra. The rounded silver Moon crescent represents the element of water: cohesion, smoothness and life and... sexual energies of the Swadhisthana chakra. Swadhisthana is associated with emotion, which means that the dance without Valana is devoid of emotion. And because one of the 6 vritti petals of Swadhisthana represents affection, it means that the dancer who does not develop the Swadhisthana will have a big problem attracting the rasikas, especially the young rasikas of the opposite sex. As Swadhisthana is positioned higher than Muladhara, it means that the movements, before being expressed in the physical body, have to follow the movements of the subtle body (this is why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes and will explain to us how body movements are supposed to spring from Tan Tien). The western (earthly) materialistic culture considers only the physical (sharply defined) body (sthula sharira), so their reliance on the muladhara techniques is obvious.
Padma Subrahmanyam compares the Recakas with Gamakas of Carnatic music, and says that the "Gamakas are the very life of the Raga." Referring to Bharata Muni's 22 Sruthi (microtone) system, she says that the "Gamakas are caused through a webbed state of the microtones, built on the semi-tones and tones of the musical notes." Have you seen many dancers whose laya is so good that their Recakas follow the microtones too?
If body movement can be described by a speed graph, the music is represented by its sound wave graph. Before you read on, you should define the distinction between music and noise, and between singing and shouting. (hint: analyse the sound wave graph). The graph for the violin will be much more plain than the graph for veena, the instrument essential for learning gamakas in vocal music. If Saraswathi holds a veena (not a violin, electric guitar or sax) in her hands, it's because it is the veena that is most suitable for accompanying the Recakas. The arrival of the budget electric amplification greatly reduced the popularity of the veena, as the sound coming from even the best loudspeakers in the Chennai sabhas blurred the music beyond recognition. After the age of 40, normal people become so Tamasic that they can't hear anything above 14 kHz. The ageing rasikas (except the ones who daily try to exercise their ears!) grew hard of hearing and came to prefer the Italian violin.
While there is software that can impeccably mimic any male voice, there is no software that can analyze and generate a female voice. If the male voices relate to the consonants, and the drums, the women's relate to the vowels, are far more complex, loaded with far more subtle nuances and shades of feelings. After all, isn't the world of emotion the woman's world? Bharata Muni explains that "Though men know the rules of singing in their traditional characteristics, their songs being devoid of sweetness, do not create beauty." (XXXV, 35-36). "Generally, songs are suited to women, and recitatives are suited for men... The good quality in women's recitation and sweetness in men's songs should be considered as an acquired skill, and not part of their nature. If men lead (in songs) and the songs possess good characteristics, but have no sweetness, then these impart no beauty... There may be (allowed) a loss of proper note in women's songs and playing of musical instruments. But this will not be sweet to the ear in case of men" (XXXII, 503-511). Sounds quite discriminatory, doesn't it? Note, Bharata Muni keeps saying that "The singer should be of a young age."
Ashwini (a pen name) is a young dance critic in Chennai who embarked on a long journey of recovering the celestial dance of the devas and apsaras from its pale and distorted reflections occasionally seen in the best Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian dance recitals.
The topics touched in this article will be:
Padma Subrahmanyam's elucidation of Natya Shastra's Recakas
* Role of Recakas in producing Rasas
* What makes the dance attractive, beautiful and interesting
* Kaisiki vs. robotic movements in terms of mechanical engineering
* Why classical Indian dance proper is a solo dance
* Laya and 22 Sruthis
* Why Bharata Muni didn't allow men to sing (and the proof that most dancers and rasikas are actually deaf)
* Why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes
* Anga Suddham, modes of movements and calligraphy
* The Tantric explanations of everything in terms of 3 gunas, 5 elements, the vrittis and more
* Difference between true art, factory-produced merchandise, and garbage
In her book on the Karanas, Padma Subrahmanyam boldly attempted to pinpoint what is dance and what is not. She builds much of her explanation around the term Recaka. To give you an idea of what the mind-boggling variety of, for example, the Pada (feet) Recakas alone include, these "may utilize the space on the sides, move forward, slip or glide, waver, quiver, shake, proceed, turn away, swerve, sway, get pushed, jerk, slide, raise, lower, draw, release or whirl." Padma Subrahmanyam says, though, that Recakas "cannot be enlisted or enumerated." She also uses the terms Prthagbhava (clearly / sharply outlined) and Valana (smooth / blurred) components of movement saying that a performance that makes use of both masterfully "can never be boring even for the uninitiated." All this makes sense, while I am yet to understand her identification of Anga Suddham with Prthagbhava alone.
Alathur Vijayakumar, the founder of Kalavardhanis, thought he discovered America when he said that he arrived at a formula that detects the "presence of grace" (or rather, the presence of life) in a particular dance sequence. Any robotic movement (which the break dance or army soldiers marching seeks to emulate) can very accurately be described in terms of velocity (V) and acceleration (V²) and jerk (V³). Padma Subrahmanyam says, "...if the intensity (of movement) is constant, the actions suffer a lack of variety. The lines may be defined, lucid and distinct in every action with clarity even in the divergence of the movements. In such a convoy of actions, every movement follows disconnectedly, without getting dissolved into one another. Hence there is a danger of killing grace." She says that the word Valana signifies that "each movement glides into another in a graceful manner."
Any psychiatrist or graphologist will tell you that if the letters in your handwriting are not connected, it means you think incoherently, and you have a good chance of becoming a schizophrenic in the future. Exposure to the schizophrenic dance performances is tantamount to eating food full of chemical pesticides. The organic movements full of life, especially the kaisiki (graceful feminine) type movements, are extremely complex and each is unique (just like every live flower is unique) as the expression of the dancer's manodharma. Their presence in dance can only be approximately described in terms of infinite number of components: V, V², V³,..., V∞ , and the speed graph will be way too complex.
The slight deviations from the impeccably "perfect" computer-generated standard are inherent in classical Indian dance. The deviations that create beauty are predominantly Sattvic, though, depending on the character, they may contain a good dose of Rajas. The ugly deviations are the results of the dancer's laziness or inability to follow the proper trajectory (Anga Suddham). These are the Tamasic deviations (look at the 3 words "Dance" again).
Now, there are some politically incorrect and undemocratic conclusions that the senior dancers who hate Bharata Muni will abhor. Even if you are born with the Sattva as the dominant component of your ("Brahmin") nature, your body, emotions and mind will be more Rajasic in the teenage years, and will be gradually more and more Tamasic as you grow older. (Yoga is the only method of changing this tendency). Our ability to understand, to remember, and to learn something new depends on the amount of Sattva in us.
I find it very amusing when the "senior" dancers dare to say that they somehow "explore the Sringara rasa" even though their recitals are devoid of many of the 10 kinds of grace of the Sahaja type and of most of the 7 of A-yantaja type, all of which are part of the Valana-rich Kaisiki and all of which, according to Bharata Muni, can be found in the movements of young women only. A very interesting element of beauty is among the 10 Sahaja graces: Vicchitti (dishabille) is "the great beauty that results from the slightly careless placing of garlands, clothes, ornaments and unguents."
Why is the classical Indian dance proper a solo dance? Factory-produced latex flowers can be compared with the dance styles that are suitable for group performances where the dancers perform identical movements at the same time. To achieve the perfect "synchronization," the movements have to be as plain ("perfect-shaped") as the latex orchids (or one of the 3 words "Dance" on the right). Live flowers are never perfect-shaped and never have "geometric" appearance. If you are half-blind, the easiest method of detecting latex flowers is to smell them. No fragrance, no rasa. (Make sure the smell is not coming from your own hair where you had poured half a bottle of expensive perfume). "Recakas impearl the Nritta, make it shine and cause complete aesthetic satisfaction," says Padma Subrahmanyam. Recakas are like spices in food. Well, the food has to be bland enough to please the western palate.
In Tantra, the square represents the angular, robust and firm element of earth and Muladhara chakra. The rounded silver Moon crescent represents the element of water: cohesion, smoothness and life and... sexual energies of the Swadhisthana chakra. Swadhisthana is associated with emotion, which means that the dance without Valana is devoid of emotion. And because one of the 6 vritti petals of Swadhisthana represents affection, it means that the dancer who does not develop the Swadhisthana will have a big problem attracting the rasikas, especially the young rasikas of the opposite sex. As Swadhisthana is positioned higher than Muladhara, it means that the movements, before being expressed in the physical body, have to follow the movements of the subtle body (this is why Anita Ratnam is fond of her Tai Chi classes and will explain to us how body movements are supposed to spring from Tan Tien). The western (earthly) materialistic culture considers only the physical (sharply defined) body (sthula sharira), so their reliance on the muladhara techniques is obvious.
Padma Subrahmanyam compares the Recakas with Gamakas of Carnatic music, and says that the "Gamakas are the very life of the Raga." Referring to Bharata Muni's 22 Sruthi (microtone) system, she says that the "Gamakas are caused through a webbed state of the microtones, built on the semi-tones and tones of the musical notes." Have you seen many dancers whose laya is so good that their Recakas follow the microtones too?
If body movement can be described by a speed graph, the music is represented by its sound wave graph. Before you read on, you should define the distinction between music and noise, and between singing and shouting. (hint: analyse the sound wave graph). The graph for the violin will be much more plain than the graph for veena, the instrument essential for learning gamakas in vocal music. If Saraswathi holds a veena (not a violin, electric guitar or sax) in her hands, it's because it is the veena that is most suitable for accompanying the Recakas. The arrival of the budget electric amplification greatly reduced the popularity of the veena, as the sound coming from even the best loudspeakers in the Chennai sabhas blurred the music beyond recognition. After the age of 40, normal people become so Tamasic that they can't hear anything above 14 kHz. The ageing rasikas (except the ones who daily try to exercise their ears!) grew hard of hearing and came to prefer the Italian violin.
While there is software that can impeccably mimic any male voice, there is no software that can analyze and generate a female voice. If the male voices relate to the consonants, and the drums, the women's relate to the vowels, are far more complex, loaded with far more subtle nuances and shades of feelings. After all, isn't the world of emotion the woman's world? Bharata Muni explains that "Though men know the rules of singing in their traditional characteristics, their songs being devoid of sweetness, do not create beauty." (XXXV, 35-36). "Generally, songs are suited to women, and recitatives are suited for men... The good quality in women's recitation and sweetness in men's songs should be considered as an acquired skill, and not part of their nature. If men lead (in songs) and the songs possess good characteristics, but have no sweetness, then these impart no beauty... There may be (allowed) a loss of proper note in women's songs and playing of musical instruments. But this will not be sweet to the ear in case of men" (XXXII, 503-511). Sounds quite discriminatory, doesn't it? Note, Bharata Muni keeps saying that "The singer should be of a young age."
Ashwini (a pen name) is a young dance critic in Chennai who embarked on a long journey of recovering the celestial dance of the devas and apsaras from its pale and distorted reflections occasionally seen in the best Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian dance recitals.
Monday, October 26, 2009
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…
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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.
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