Jewelry
Women and men wear so much jewelry it's hard to know where to start! I'll try to cover the main points, but I strongly suggest digging into some of the pictures and taking another look, in case I missed anything!Women's Jewelry
Celestial Nymph
Karnataka, Belur district
12th century
Celestial Nymph
Karnataka, Belur district
12th century
Necklaces
One necklace seems to be a necessity, but several are the status quo. Usually, there's one necklace that hangs between the breasts, and then several, heavier and more ornate necklaces that hang over the top of the chest. The long necklace can be a heavy chain, with many strands of beads and other ornaments, like Durga's, or a simple strand, like Durga's attendant.I've found one instance of an actual pendant - in "Man Offers Ring..." - I may be reading too much into it, but it looks like a bead on a chain, to me.
The shorter necklaces are even more ornate. At their best, they are so numerous; they look like thick Egyptian collars. But they can be simple chains, or bands with some sort of doodad in the front. Sometimes I wonder if they might not be torques.
Another necklace worth noting is the necklace in the Lakshmi statue - it's an X-shape that hangs between the breast and under each arm. There's a connector in the happy valley, and in the same place in the back. Usually they are very simple - just a strand or two of pearls.
There seem to also be fancy shoulder doodads; you can see them on Lakshmi and on Mahamanasi. I have no idea what these are, but I think they are probably attached somehow to the necklaces.
 Mahamanasi 12th Century Hoysala Era |
Dilwara, Mount Abu Chalukya, 13th century AD |
Man Offers Ring to Girlfriend Alampur Temple Chalukyan |
Durga Killing Buffalo Demon
12th century
Karnataka
Bhu Lakshmi
Tamil Nadu
Chola Era, 990 AD
|
Bhu Lakshmi Tamil Nadu 990 AD, Chola Era |
Celestial Nymph Karnataka, Belur district 12th century |
Gold Earrings
11th century
Huntress
12th century AD, Hoysala Era
Mysore, Karnataka
Durga
12th century
Karnataka
Huntress
12th century AD, Hoysala Era
Mysore, Karnataka
Rings
Seems like any finger goes! Put 'em on all the digits and between the joints, as well. Rings are pretty simple - bands or inlaid with some spherical bead.
Durga
12th century
Karnataka
Huntress
12th century AD, Hoysala Era
Mysore, Karnataka
Anklets and Toe Rings
Anklets are a definite must. There are two main kinds - loose anklets that hang around the feet, and tight, probably stiff anklets that sit higher, on the ankles. It's hard to tell how heavy the higher anklets are - the Hoysala statues often have a very heavy feeling, all around, the weighty appearance of these anklets could be a factor of the artistic style. The looser anklets are probably some sort of string or chain.Toe rings are an option, too. Tiny little rings of plain metal or some sort of bead.
Durga
12th century
Karnataka
Huntress
12th century AD, Hoysala Era
Mysore, Karnataka
Girdles
Not like the horrible things your grandma wore! I'm using girdle as a rather broad term for "really fancy thingy that goes on the waist". Girdles of this time vary widely, but most of them are very ornamented. The typical Hoysala girdle is a thick, ornamented - usually beaded - band. This band is then attached to many swags of more pearls, and other fancy beads. They may have long strands hanging from the swags or between them. For many styles of girdle, there's a long, very ornamented, wide band hanging down the center of the front of the body.Another typical girdle is the Chola girdle on the Lakshmi statue. I've seen this more often with Chola, not ever with Hoysala. It looks like it might be more of a belt - many, many bands of a strip with repeating pattern. My guess is fabric - so it could be trim, or card weaving or some other type of brocade. There seem to be big bows on the hips (like I needed any help emphasizing my hips!) and there may also be another, smaller girdle of beads.
The Hoysala girdle to the right has me totally stymied. Is it tassels? Fringe? Shreds of fabric? Chuthulu? I have no idea. There's definitely a spiffy belt on the waist, but I have no idea whether this ?skirt? is attached to, hanging off it, or whatever.
And what's with those random, gravity defying swags of ?stuff? floating around the figures? I have no idea. It's making me crazy - it's just random, gravity defying stuff.
Bhu Lakshmi
990 AD
Chola Era, Tamil Nadu
Celestial Nymph
12th century
Karnataka
Celestial Cymbalist
1100 AD
Karnataka
Huntress
12th century AD, Hoysala Era
Mysore, Karnataka
Celestial Nymph
12th century
Karnataka
Men's Jewelry
Mataganga
12th Century
Hoysala Era
Vishnu
990AD, Chola Era
Tamil Nadu
Necklaces
Necklaces are a big part of male ornament. They usually wear several shorter necklaces - which often look like heavy chains, beads or plaques of metal - the shape is usually quite circular.Another typical ornament is the "sacred thread" which hangs over the left shoulder and under the right arm. This is usually a symbol of manhood, and is worn after a sacred thread tying ceremony when a boy becomes a man. It also a symbol of being one of the "twice born castes" - the warriors, priests or merchants. The lower servant class doesn't get to wear this thread. The threads can be fairly simple or they can be several strings of beads. Often the strings seem to be of different lengths so they hang at different points. They may also be collected in an ornamented clasp on the front of the chest.
Men also get this neat upper chest band. You can see it on Vishnu and Brahma. I believe it's a Chola thing. I have never seen a woman in this ornament, so I think it's a guy thing. I think Brahma's is clasped closed at the front.
Male figure
Khajuraho
Chandella Period
Brahma - front
11th century
Chola, Tamil Nadu
Brahma - back
11th century
Chola, Tamil Nadu
Male figure
Khajuraho
Chandella Period
Celestial Drummer
13th century
Karnataka
Gold Earrings
11th century
Brahma
11th century AD, Chola Era
Tamil Nadu
Arm Jewelry
Too much is not a big concern - wrist bangles, elbow bracelet, and upper arm bracelets. The upper armband may tie on - modern ones do. Brahma's may well be a coil that is simply stretched and squished over the arm. I have no idea how you keep an elbow band on. I suspect it's just slightly higher than the bend in the elbow, where it's fleshy and padded enough to squeeze on. Wrist bangles are usually multiple - some are just thin bands, some are inlaid with pearls or ornamented with simple shapes like vines and geometrics.Ohh! And if you have more than two arms, you need to get bracelets for all of them.
Rings
Men's rings, compared to women's, seem simpler. Only thin bands, worn on basically any finger. Since they were so simple, I did not include any pictures here, although you can see them on a few of the images referenced here.
Male Figure
Khajuraho
Chandella Period
Celestial Drummer
13th Century
Karnataka
Anklets
Anklets are an option. There are two main kinds - loose anklets that hang around the feet, and tight, probably stiff anklets that sit higher, on the ankles. The Vishnu image on the right has a particularly unique set of anklets - it seems like solid bands, not unlike some of the modern tribal bracelets out there. It's hard to tell how heavy the higher anklets are - the Hoysala statues often have a very heavy feeling, all around, the weighty appearance of these anklets could be a factor of the artistic style. The looser anklets are probably some sort of string or chain.Guys aren't quite as into the anklet thing as the ladies. The Khajuraho statue, for example, has no foot ornament.
Standing Vishnu as Keshara
1st quarter of 12th century
Hoysala Era, Karnataka
Vishnu
990 AD, Chola Era
Tamil Nadu
Girdles
Not just for grandmas anymore! I'm using girdle as a rather broad term for "really fancy thingy that goes on the waist". Girdles of this time vary widely, but most of them are very ornamented. The typical Hoysala girdle is a thick, ornamented - usually beaded - band. This band is then attached to many swags of more pearls, and other fancy beads. They may have long strands hanging from the swags or between them. For many styles of girdle, there's a long, very ornamented, wide band hanging down the center of the front of the body.Another typical girdle is the Chola girdle on the Vishnu statue to the left. I've seen this more often with Chola, not ever with Hoysala. It looks like it might be more of a belt - many, many bands of a strip with repeating pattern. My guess is fabric - so it could be trim, or card weaving or some other type of brocade. There seem to be big bows on the hips and there may also be another, smaller girdle of beads.
Often there is a swag of something, hanging around the knees, and going up to hang over the arms. Is it part of the belt? I have no idea. In the male figures, this looks like a heavy chain or garland. In the female figures it is gravity defying.
Male Figure
Khajuraho
Chandella Period
Standing Vishnu as Keshara
1st quarter of 12th century
Hoysala Era, Karnataka
Standing Vishnu as Keshara
1st quarter of 12th century
Hoysala Era, Karnataka
Celestial Drummer
13th Century
Karnataka
Male Figure
Khajuraho
Chandella Period
Brahma
11th century, Chola Era
Tamil Nadu
Hair and Hats
In hats, you get two varieties of really tall hat - either a tall cylinder or a several tiered wedding cake sort of thing. Both are highly elaborate and wonderfully tall! In the Chola sculptures, the back of the head has ringlets of hair hanging down the back. They may be dreadlocks, they may be stylized wispies. They are usually very long - like a foot or so, if it was a real person. That suggests to me that male hair is pretty long.Another style is the decorated pile of dreadlocks. The coils of hair on the figures on the right are probably piles up dread locks.
Men can, apparently, wear beards. In the figure above, it's done in a stylish knot. Most of the time, though, the men are clean-shaven. This is probably the one example I have of a guy with facial hair.