Chandra Haar ..... The Moon Necklace.

The Chandra Haar is an ancient, significantly auspicious ornament in the bridal jewellery repertoire of Northern India.

In the Epic Ramayana it has been chronicled that Prince Ram of Ayodhya won the hand of the beautiful Sita in a swayamvara organised by her father King Janak of Mithila 

After the swayamvara Sita's father invited King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, Ram's father, to come with the royal wedding party or baraat to perform the sacred nuptials of Ram and Sita. 

Legend has it that Sri Ramchandra the heir apparent of Ayodhya married the pious Sita amid great pomp and fanfare in Mithila. 

Along with the various gifts and essentials required to celebrate the wedding of a Prince, Queen Kaushalya   Ramchandra's mother had a magnificent necklace made for her son to garland Sita with during the wedding ceremony. 

This Necklace was named CHANDRA HAAR after Prince Ramchandra.

CHANDRA translated means MOON and adding it as a suffix to the name of a royal prince equated him to be none other than the Moon God himself. 

The Chandra Haar that Queen Kaushalya had especially customized by a rare community of Brahmin Karigars who came from a village close to Ayodhya was an extraordinary ornament the likes of which were not to be seen in the entire land of Bharat.

This Chandra Haar was literally like a garland which ended at the waist of Sita. The ornament was painstakingly and intricately crafted with five ropes of the choicest sparkling diamonds with delicate strands of parallel pearls on either sides of the necklace, to be attached to a spectacular full moon shaped gold pendant encrusted with flawless diamonds of different sizes circling a huge central solitaire diamond which was one of its kind in Bharatvarsh at that time. Flawless pearls were embedded between the diamonds to add an ethereal look to the Moon Pendant which was encircled by seed pearls strung in gold wires to complete it. 

Six crescent shaped pendants were added at intervals between the diamond ropes on either side, to lend support to this garland-necklace. The crescent pendants were in solid gold embedded with pearls and diamonds. Tiny pearls hung all along the curve of each crescent. 

The entire Chandra Haar crafted in diamonds and pearls was a spectacular representation of the Moon in a starlit golden sky!

Amid chanting of Vedic mantras, showering of marigold and rose petals, Sri Ramchandra garlanded the pious Sita with this awesome necklace while she in turn shone like moonlight with the reflection of the pristine priceless diamonds of the Chandra Haar, lending pure moonshine to her coy yet serene face. 

Thousands of years later, even today, the Chandra Haar is a necklace that is presented by the mother-in-law to the bride and garlanded by her son the groom during the wedding ceremony. 

Over the years the Chandra Haar underwent many changes. The basic design of the Moon and crescents remained the same but modern age karigars diminished its size and also added various precious gems like emeralds and rubies to add colour to the necklace. 

Many a times to suit functional modern times; the Chandra Haar is made more chic by designers using just the crescent moons to go around the collar bone of the bride. 

This ostentatious and spectacular necklace is not just ornamentation for an Indian bride, but carries the culture of India in its design.