What the ear remembers

The ear has always held great significance to Indian jewellers. ARMAN KHAN traces how contemporary craftsmen are shaping new codes without being burdened by the past.

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On a particularly exhausting day in 2023, I trundled along the dusty Lucknow-Delhi stretch of National Highway 24 in Uttar Pradesh. Alongside fellow passengers battling various degrees of motion sickness, I pined for a clean meal. Just as we were about to give up hope, a giant jhumka sculpture appeared as we neared the town of Bareilly.

While this particular artwork, embellished with zari work, weighed nearly 200 kilograms, the inspiration itself dates back to the Chola dynasty, as depicted in temple carvings of deities. Mughal artisans later refined its structure while preserving its ornate appearance. Over centuries, it’s travelled through cinema, music and popular culture, most memorably in the 1966 song ‘Jhoomka Gira Re’ by Asha Bhosle, which famously referenced a jhumka falling in a Bareilly bazaar.

The town itself has no proven historical connection to jhumkas. But did it matter? When news broke recently of the singer’s passing, Bareilly’s jewellers reported a surge in jhumka sales. The jimikki kammal—the Malayali equivalent of the jhumka—was also immortalised in the 2017 viral song ‘Entammede Jimikki Kammal’, to the point where even the American talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel acknowledged its popularity.