Karbi Traditional Jewellery

Jewelry is considered 'human universal' because every culture has it and it is also "cultural' as every cultural group shapes in it the 'iconic form and symbolic use' prevalent in each society. It is considered the 'most human of artifacts' as it is 'closest to the skin' and historians suggest that humans used jewelries well before clothing! Jewelry is undoubtedly 'one of the oldest of the decorative arts' which 'answers to the deep human love of intrinsically beautiful materials, to the deep human wish for bodily beautification, and to the superstitious need for reinforcing human powers by things that seem...more lasting and more mysterious thar man. Stringing shells and seeds to decorate the body has a history going back 100,000 years, and needless to say, jewelry is the 'most ancient and immediate art forms...defined by its connection and interaction with the body.' Jewelry use as part of 'body- decoration' has been therefore a 'ubiquitous phenomenon across time and space, civilizations and cultures as jewelry responds to the most.

A jewelsmith is known to the Karbis ever since as bini' and 'Lo'e Kro Bini' is therefore respected and glorified. The ter 'bini otherwise finds numerous mentions in Karbi folklore which generally 'means a craftsman. In the numerous sacred prayers, divine craftsmen are hailed' às Thipbini-Thengbini' who created the earth, the diverse life-forms, the flora and the fauna, and the humans. The sacred verses of 'Nok Keplang' (origin of sword) praises the legendary 'Tung Jangmu' as the creator of the 'sacrificial sword'. A hemai (blacksmith) made household iron tools for day-to-day use including weapons. In earlier times, every Karbi village had a 'blacksmith's workshop' and the people made 'their own gold and silver ornaments'. A craftsman therefore occupies a position of social, cultural and religious dignity among Karbis Generations of Karbis used jewelries made of seeds, cowry shells, coins, brass, copper, silver and gold. Women adorned themselves with no-jangsai (earrings), lek (necklaces), roi (bangles), arnan (finger rings), and chisir (hair-clips), vam ari (waist band, also used as necklace) etc. as 'body adornment' which expressed social and cultural meanings. Not to be outdone, men too wore necklaces, bangles and earrings of brass, silver and gold by which they displayed their position, power & prosperity.