Mayur Kaan ..... The Peacock Earrings.

Indian Jewellery has the most versatile and unique cache of ornaments compared to anywhere else in the world. 

One of the most favourite icon's of Indian jewellery is the national bird of the country... The Peacock. 

Since the Mughal Era the peacock has been used as a central image in jewellery all over India. The Mughals were particularly fascinated with this large majestic bird. It was an icon used by Mogul Art in every sphere of art and architecture, be it arches, domes, thrones, paintings, mosaics embroidery, furniture, and jewellery. 

The famous Golden Peacock Throne the pride of the Mughal Empire in India was built by Emperor Shah Jahan bearing witness to the Mughal obsession for this Majestic bird.

The jewellery Karigars of that time excelled in Meenakari a skill of using different colours beaten into gold which added a kaleidoscope of different shades to the ornament. 

This expertise of Meenakari was especially useful when designing jewellery with the Peacock emblem.  

The male Peacock is a magnificent bird with an elaborate plumage. There are around 200 elongated bronze green-blue  feathers with an 'eye' in each one of them. It has a metallic green  and a glistening sapphire/turquoise blue long slender neck. The magnificent tail is either a long train of spectacular colours or when expanded in dance, it is a conspicuous display of fan-like radiance of turquoise blue and emerald green. 

All these characteristics were a designer's delight for the jewellery Karigars of the time. 

The peacock jewellery was either worked in the resplendent colours of metallic bronze, deep green and turquoise blue Meenakari shimmering in gold, or they were encrusted in dazzling emeralds, breathtaking turquoise and deep blue sapphires with a blood red ruby for the eyes of the majestic bird. 

Unlike jewellery from around the world Indian jewellery has a separate repertoire of Bridal jewellery which is further slotted according to the different states of India.

Besides the Mughal Jewellery the Peacock has also always been firmly ensconced in the jewellery of Rajasthan, Bengal, and Southern India.

  
The Mayur Kaan is typical to the Bridal Ornaments of Bengal and Rajasthan.

 

In Bengali wedding jewellery which is worked only in solid gold, the majestic plume or Pankh of the Peacock has traditionally been used as display along the helix and the body of the Peacock at the lobe of the ear. 

In Rajasthani jewellery the Peacock is traditionally worked in the precious colourful gems which are a penchant with the dessert kingdoms. The Peacock Earrings in this region are resplendent in uncut diamonds, deep blue sapphires, dazzling emeralds, and blood red rubies; all these precious gems are used to emblazon the spectacular plumage or Pankh of the Peacock either in a fan like downward display or a sparkling array along the helix.

The elegance and serene stature of this beautiful royal bird of India, is reflected in the bridal Mayur Kaan which is a unique piece of ornament exclusive to India

In the twenty-first centuries the conventional Mayur Kaan still finds itself to be the cynosure of attention,of spectacular bridal jewellery in many states of India.  

The Aatheru .....An Ornament of a Married Kashmiri Woman.

The Aatheru is as ancient as the Pandit Culture of the Valley of Kashmir.

This ear ornament is a vital presentation to a Kashmiri Pandit girl, in parts, by both parents and in-laws at the time of her nuptials. These earrings are ceremoniously given to the bride for a happily married union. Sometimes it is equated to the ‘mangalsutra, an ensigna of a married status, but unlike the mangalsutra which is removed when widowed the Aatheru is worn by most Kashmiris till their death because it is also the woman’s financial security in case of trying times.

This ceremoniously elaborate ear ornament is made of three ornamental elements. The Dejhoor, the Athoor and Atah.

The wedding ceremony is called the Lagan and one day before the Lagan, the Devgoan ceremony which is meant to invite the Gods to bless the bride is performed in the bridal home. During this ceremony the bride is given the Dejhoor for her ears by her mother.

The Kashmiri Pandits are Shavites and the Dejhoor is a Sri Yantra or auspicious talisman. Dejhoor, cast in gold, is always hexagonal (Shatkon) shaped with a dot (Chunne) in the center representing Shiv and Shakti. this yantra or Dejhoor, is dangled from piercings in the upper ear cartilage, always the left ear first (Shiv) and then the right (Shakti), and initially, on the day of Devgoan, only using  red threads called nairwan.

The next day, which is the wedding day the  Lagan ceremony is performed and the in- laws after taking the new bride to their home, perform another ceremony where they remove the red threads supporting the Dejhoor and replace it with Atah. The Atah are either gold chains or gold and silver silken threads called(Sulma/Tilla) replacing the red nairwan threads.  

The in-laws also add Athoor which is either  a small piece of golden ornament attached - to the lower end of the Dejhoor or a bunch of the Atah gold chains or silken threads tied in a bunch to the bottom of the Dejhoor; thus completing the yantra in a very symbolic way.

The next day, as part of another ritual, when the bride along with her husband visits her mother's place, she now sports a compete set of Dejhoor, Atah and Athoor which is collectively known as the Aatheru.

At the end of the gold chains are the two other elements of the earrings the Dejhoor and Athoor.
Earlier the Dejhoor and projecting Athoor was kept by the Pandit women inside their garment touching the skin yet there was no danger of any kind of infection as gold being a precious metal.
As time went by the Aatheru underwent changes. This elaborate gold earring was modified to suit contemporary sensibilities. Precious gems and seed pearls were add to make the Aatheru more glamorous and attractive. The gold chains of the Atah now had seed pearls in intervals and in some designs there were only chains of pearls strung in gold wire. The gold dot or Chunne many a times was replaced by a solitaire diamond instead of the traditional gold dot in the centre of the Shatkon.

The hexagonal Dejhoor was now crafted either in meenakari, or the gold yantra was embedded in precious gems like sapphires, emeralds and pheroza, making it more expensive and colourful. The attached Athoor too saw changes either as a meenakari or bejewelled pendant or dangling as a tight bunch of clusters of pearl strings.
To suit the modern Kashmiri Pandit woman the Atah chains were reduced in size so that the Dejhoor and attached Athoor just about touched her shoulders.

Today the Aatheru is an earring worn by many Indian women whether they by Kashmiri or not, as a preference for a beautiful piece of jewellery.
Worn with a chic chiffon sari, a western hair-cut, the bejewelled Aatheru dangling from the ears of an Indian woman  makes a unique fashion statement found nowhere else in the World!