Why women wear jewellery?

I am sure at some point in time, this question must have crossed your mind. Exactly, why do we wear jewellery? In today’s context, it is worn mostly for style. With a desire to achieve a unique look, a look that reflects one’s inner self, women wear jewellery that best defines them. While it is an extension of their personality, it also allows them the freedom to express. Their belief, their choices, everything is beautifully manifested as a jewel and thus, what they choose, what they wear, does the talking for them. But that is it, why we wear jewellery. Actually, no. Especially in the Indian culture, you wear jewellery not just to add that extra bling to your look but also to honour the age-old beliefs.

A married Indian woman is always loaded with jewellery from head to toe. Even if you come across those who subscribe to minimalist school of thought, at least the essentials would be on. With essentials, I mean to say the marital symbols. A Mangalsutra or its equivalent, a pair of toe-rings, in some cultures nose ring/ nose pin, a pair of Dejhoors amongst Kashmiri Pandit women folks…so on and so forth. These symbols are put on by the brides ceremonially during the wedding and are worn all their life till the husband is alive.

But since Hindu traditions stem from scientific reasoning, the Vedic scholars reveal that we don’t wear jewels for nothing. Each jewel offers some health benefits. For instance, when Karna Vedha Samskaara (one of the 16 Samskaaras of the Hindu traditions) is carried out while we are still a baby, as per Susruta, the great Indian surgeon, ear-piercing prevents diseases like hernia, hydrocele and hysteria while in girls, it regulates the menstrual cycle. Overall, earrings also maintain the flow of current in the human body. It is also believed that when the goldsmith bores the gold pin and curls it into a ring, the baby gets the first physical shock. As a result of the shock s/he receives when the tender lobes of the ears are pierced, the child develops resistance to nervous diseases like epilepsy.  

Even wearing a pair of toe-rings helps boost reproduction, as it has direct bearing on the reproductive system. Since the nerve passing through the second toe is connected to the heart as well as the uterus and is constantly massaged by the wearer's movements, it helps augment fertility and brightens the chance of conceiving. Besides a sexual/ erotic effect on the wearer, it treats the gynaecological problems and regularises menstrual cycle, thereby improving the reproductive system. 

That’s not all. There are also other spiritual reasons why we sport jewellery. If you have read Immortal Talks, you would know the concept of Asuras and Suras and how they are constantly lurking to possess us. For the uninitiated, they both are those souls who could not achieve moksha and also, would not return to the cycle of birth and death. The bad souls become Asuras and good souls Suras. While Asuras thrive on negativity, Suras feast on positivity. But that does not mean Suras usher in positivity. Their effect on you would be such that – if you love dogs, you will love them so much so that you will ignore every other person including your family and that too much of anything is not good.

Now how to ward them off? Do exactly the opposite of what they compel you to do. For instance, if you are tempted to insult someone in your anger, resist it. The Asura will know that it is not controlling you anymore and will leave your body. Similarly, when Sura is pulling you away from your family to love your dog only, try to connect with your family as much as with the dog. The Sura too will get the message straight. But the egoistic world that live in today, this exercise is a challenged. Here's an easy way out. Since it is believed that these evil spirits enter human body through openings, by wearing earrings, you can keep them at bay. 

So while you flaunt your choices, be in the pink of your health and shoo away the evil too. 

Author: Deepa Mishra

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