Hill jewels

A private museum in Jammu has a rich collection of tribal
jewellery from the hills, writes Suraj Saraf

FOR long there has been a clamour to patent the traditional knowledge of tribals in diverse spheres — preservation of the green wealth and the art and craft, and making use of herbs — but beyond empty promises by government officials and private organisations concerned with tribal affairs, nothing concrete has emerged. This traditional expertise continues to be exploited by unscrupulous elements and smuggled by foreigners to make a fast buck.

In this sad scenario, a private museum in Jammu, Shashvat Art Gallery, over the past about two decades devoted itself to collecting attractive hill jewellery artefacts. It has now acquired over 1200 samples, says its owner Suresh Abrol, a well-known hereditary jeweller of Jammu. Interestingly, in the process, Abrol had also started collecting ancient manuscripts, coins, paintings and sculptures, but he mainly dedicated himself to add to his treasure, tribal jewellery from hills in Jammu and adjoining Himachal Pradesh.

He said during his college days he once went on an educational tour to Mumbai, and while visiting famous museums there, he saw some jewellery pieces. They got him much interested. An idea came to his mind that back home in Jammu, tribals from hill areas come to his family shop to sell jewellery pieces to get some much- needed money. He started his venture of collecting interesting hill jewellery with peculiar designs, and there was no looking back.

In the process he came to know interesting features of the life and customs of the hill denizens, particularly relating to jewellery. According to him, there is no difference in jewellery designs on religious basis. They all reflect the common hill culture.

Abrol says that tribal women are as much observed when wearing jewellery as urban ones. However, their jewellery mainly consists of silver and is heavy and repetitive in designs that lends it a peculiar attraction. He adds that hill women have jewellery for every part of the body, sometimes more than a single design for the same body part.

For instance, for the neck they have dolara haar or rani haar with five or even nine strings. Other neck ornaments are gani, matar mala, hazzali, sira, jugni haar, yanthi, nama etc. For the ears there are valla, valli, uui dhaga, kanta, jhumka etc. For the head there are chack mundra and arsi. For the hands there are arsi, mundri, anguthi, shalla etc. For the feet shakuntala chain, panjeb, basantri and sarbarlli are popular.

Hill jewellery is heavy and women go on adding to it on festive occasions. Hansalli, a neck ornament, could be up to 5 kg, and panjeb could be up to 3 kg.

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