Gold - treasured down the ages in India

Glow of Gold - possessed through the ages

Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and this has never been truer than in the case of jewellery. Call it an aesthetic impulse or love for beauty, but what it all comes down to is just an inherent need to acquire, to possess. That’s how Indians are engineered!

In ancient India, large herds of cows, stables of horses, elephants and jewellery were considered the only valuable treasures worth having. One’s status in society was gauged by how costly one’s jewellery was and how much of it you wore on festive occasions.

Times may have changed, but gold jewellery is still possessed across the length and breadth of India. In 2001, India consumed 843 tonnes of the yellow metal, and all over the world, more than 85% of gold was in the form of jewellery.

The earliest records of adorning the human body with precious metal goes back to the civilisations of Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Ancient India buzzed with the carving, embellishing and po...