Jadau and Meenakari : The artistic Jewellery of Mogul pattern

Jewelry with Meena is a special category of Indian Jewelry. Meena means enameling work. There are two types of Meena Jewelery, Meena with kundan Jadau and Meena without Kundan Jadau.

Higher end Meena Jewelry are made in gold where as lower end products are made in silver. We are mainly discussing here gold jewelry in Kundan Meena Jadau.

Indian Jewelers enamel Gold and silver Jewelries to enhance their beauty. Jewelers produce variety of Jewelry with enamel in different places of the world. Indian enameling work is entirely different from those of France, England and Turkey. In Indian Kundan Jadau and Meena Jewelry, generally enameling work is done in the backside of the ornaments and is called ek posta meena. Some times it is in the front side too and then it is called do posta. The artisans engrave beautiful flowers, leaves, birds and animals in the gold plate and then enamel the same . Jaipur, 

Jadau-Kundan-Meena jewelry include necklace, bangles, tops, jhumki, hasli, kada, bracelet, earrings, ring, armlet, hathful and many other ornaments.

Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh, founder of Jaipur was an art lover. He was also a promoter of skills and businesses. Jaipur has flourished as a center of excellence in gem and jewelry manufacturing and trading in his able patronage. He brought Meenakari art of mogul pattern from Delhi to Jaipur. He invited Surana family, Delhi based Jewelers to Jaipur for that purpose. The Surana family has been contributing a lot until now to the very art of Jadau and Meenakari. They are not only the pioneers but also maintaining dignity of this art till date. Many others have also joined the trail further and contributing to the art of Kundan Jadau Meena.

Later on, Bikaner and Sardarshahar (only a few years back ) of Rajasthan have adopted this art. Jaipur meena is one of the best, especially with the art of pachchikari. Bikaner produces the maximum quantity because of cheap labor and Sardarshahar produces commercial quality in huge quantity.

Bikaner and Sardarshahar are the main places in Rajasthan for enameling work.

Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is famous for Pink Meena, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh is for Kaarwani and Kolkata, West Bengal for English and French Meena. Jadau works are done with Indian style only and not with French or English Meena.Jadau work is done only in gold jewelry.

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Ahmedabad (capital of Gujarat) produce Kundan Jewelry without Meena. Kundan is used for Jadau ornaments.

Jewelers from various places in India enamel over silver and Gold. Silver Meena of Kolkata and Nathadwara, Rajasthan are worth mention.

Making of these Jewelries involve a highly complicated and systematic process. Innitially designer makes design, if approved, it goes to gharia who makes initial skeleton of the piece called Ghat. This Ghat is shifted to Meenakar for further process who enamels the same through a complicated process. He draws a design at first and then engrave it. He puts enamel on the engraved piece. The piece is enameled by heating the same. The Meenakar has to heat the piece several times for different colors. Each time he can put only one color.

The art piece then reaches to Jadia who pours gala (flux, a resin like material) in the blank spaces. He also prepares Kundan heating thin flaps of pure gold. He also prepares dak from silver foils. The Jadia puts it in backside of flat gemstones to provide extra glitter. Sometimes the Jadia add color to dak to enhance color of gemstones such as Emerald, Ruby and Sapphires. This foiled stone is ready for studding called Jadai. Jadai is very special art of India. It is entirely different method of studding gemstones. The Jadia pours very small cuttings of Kundan flaps between the gaps of the walls of ghat and gemstones. He then tighten Kundan through a chisel like tool and pressurize it to melt and fill in the gaps.

Puwaiya ( who strings) adds beads to some ornaments after studding to enhance their beauty and to give those gorgeous look. These hanging beads are called latkans. The art of binding beads with golden or silver wire is called bandhai or aanti-puwai.

The manufacturer sells this ready to wear Kundan Meena Jadau Jewelery to showroom owners and retailers. The retailer or showroom owners then sell it to customers. Kundan Meena Jadau ornaments are trendy and evergreen in fashion. Indians and Arabians love Kundan Meena Jadau very much since centuries. Europeans and Americans have also adopted these ornaments since few years.

Women and girls love these ornaments very much.

It is a good investment tool too.

Interested in buying this kind of Jewelry?

Please refer to this hub.