GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Temples held vast wealth in gold and gems, much of it in the form of jewelry given to deities over the centuries by devotees. Adornment is part of the act of worship, performed along with feeding, bathing, and entertaining a deity. Priests clothe, crown, and adorn icons according to the time of day and season, and jewelry is an expression of the greatness of a deity. It is believed that an icon’s power increases when it is more splendidly dressed. Sacred texts envision the heavens to be aglow with precious gems and metals, a vision reproduced when a temple’s inner shrine opens to reveal the gold and gems surrounding its principal deity. Wealthy temples have extensive repositories stocked by devotees who believe they will reap merit from their gifts to the gods. Buddhist reliquaries were often filled with gold, silver, and precious stones. Family shrines are also richly adorned. Families dress and accessorize smaller icons, which were generally preferred at home, with miniature jewelry and garments.
Adapted from
Text labels from When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection, Accessed on TAZ (ID 201283), 7 January 2015.
NOTES
1997.7
UMO review
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS (list applicable note links)
AUDIO ASSETS
"Ritual Adornment: Celebrating Indian Temple Jewelry," Dr. Susan Beningson, 24 January 2008, DMA.
13318064: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to content where content contains indian
apply to content where content contains jewelry
apply to objects where classification_name contains jewelry
apply to objects where department_id equals 5
apply to objects where description contains indian
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Temples held vast wealth in gold and gems, much of it in the form of jewelry given to deities over the centuries by devotees. Adornment is part of the act of worship, performed along with feeding, bathing, and entertaining a deity. Priests clothe, crown, and adorn icons according to the time of day and season, and jewelry is an expression of the greatness of a deity. It is believed that an icon’s power increases when it is more splendidly dressed. Sacred texts envision the heavens to be aglow with precious gems and metals, a vision reproduced when a temple’s inner shrine opens to reveal the gold and gems surrounding its principal deity. Wealthy temples have extensive repositories stocked by devotees who believe they will reap merit from their gifts to the gods. Buddhist reliquaries were often filled with gold, silver, and precious stones. Family shrines are also richly adorned. Families dress and accessorize smaller icons, which were generally preferred at home, with miniature jewelry and garments.
Adapted from
Text labels from When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection, Accessed on TAZ (ID 201283), 7 January 2015.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
Notes
1997.7
UMO review
rules
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Content
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indian
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Content
content
Contains
jewelry
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constituent_id
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jewelry
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department_id
Equals
5
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description
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indian
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description
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source file
cultures_and_traditions-0139.xml.nores