Bead Crafts

A bead is an object that can used to decorate a person, thing, or place. From genesis of
civilizations, people have worn beads to declare their identity, status, and kinship and to
bedazzle others and to please themselves. Beads are also used to display power and
wealth. Now a day, bead crafts have become very popular worldwide. Various products
are crafted using beads in multiple patterns come under the bead crafts.
Beads can be divided into some categories. Such as,

• Glass Beads

• Cotton Beads

• Cotton Beads

• Plastic Beads

• Porcelain Beads

• Metal beads

• Seed Beads

• Shell Beads

• Bone Beads

• Wooden Beads

• Bead Accessories

Indian Bead Crafts:

Bead craft has been in vogue in India since Harappan civilization three thousand years
ago. The Harappan Civilization admired beads of diverse types with vastly differing
manufacturing processes. Beads were used of agate, alabaster, carnelian, faience, jasper,
lapis lazuli, serpentine, shell, steatite, terra cotta, and turquoise. Moreover, horn, ivory
and wooden beads were used by Indian tribes for necklaces and earrings since very old
times.
Craftsmen of Gujarat and Rajasthan are popular for their expertise in bead crafts. They
use colorful beads to bring forth elegant embroidery pattern. Gift items like wall hangings
and jewelry box decorations are also done here with great expertise. Transparent and
semi transparent beads, plastic and glass beads, terracotta, are also used to enhance the
aesthetic value of crafts.
The bead crafts of Saurashtra and Kutch are unique. These two places are the most
popular tourist attraction with the bead crafts perspective. The craftsmen of this region
create chaklas, door hangings, belts, bags, pot covers and mojdis and a lot many other
bead crafts with traditional Indian character.

To enhance your knowledge on bead crafts visit our site India Crafts.

culture aspects
Bead is considered to be one of the
earliest ornaments used by men and
women. From the prehistoric period
people have used easily available raw
materials like stones, shells, bones,
teeth and seeds to make beads. They
used to pierce and string the beads to
prepare necklaces. Like prehistoric
man, present day tribal people also
use marine shells, first and second
phalanges of the small ruminants,
canines and incisors of carnivores,
and antlers of deer to make beads.
Besides being used as ornaments,
beads carry religious, medicinal and
talismanic significance. Wari-
Bateswar (Wari-Bateshvar) people
use semi-precious stone beads as
rosary; they also take bead-washed
water as medicine in the belief that it
cures diseases. Beads found at graves
in Tamilnadu and Malabar Coast were
assumed by HC Beck to be passage
money for the dead. The occurrence
of a large number of crystal beads in
many archaeological sites was,
according to Rivert-Carnac, due to
their sacredness in the eyes of Indo-
Aryans, Buddhists or Hindus.
The earliest beads in the subcontinent
are reported from Upper Palaeolithic
culture, while we find the earliest
beads in Bengal (pandu rajar dhibi,
mahisdal, Bharatpur, Hatigra and
mangalkot) from Chalcolithic culture.
Most early historic and early medieval
archaeological sites such as
mahasthan, wari-bateswar, paharpur
and mainamati in Bangladesh and
Pandu Rajar Dhibi, Mangalkot,
Mahisdal, Bharatpur,
chandraketugarh, Tamluk,
Harinarayanpur, Deulpota, and
Bangarh in West Bengal have yielded
a wide variety of beads. There is no
firm evidence to prove that
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
people of Bengal were using beads as
ornament.
Among the total assemblage of beads,
the semi-precious stone ones are
dominant in number, shapes and
designs. Materials include agate,
crystal, carnelian, chalcedony, onyx,
garnet, jasper, marble, chert, amethyst
and rarely lapis lazuli. Banded agate
is the most common and then
carnelian, rock crystal and
chalcedony. Delicate polish can be
observed on the majority of the beads,
showing the dexterity of the artists.
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The shapes encountered in Bengal
semi-precious stone beads are
globular, barrel circular, barrel
hexagonal, cylinder circular, cylinder
hexagonal, oblate, annular, hexagonal
prism, square, truncated convex
bicone, oval, elliptical, lenticular,
spherical, mealon, diamond, fluted,
cornerless cube and disc circular. The
barrel shape is dominant, followed by
globular, disc and cylinder shapes. A
small quantity of beads are devoid of
regular patterns in their shapes and
finishing, and they reflect either the
use of inferior raw materials or poor
craftsmanship.
Beads in Bengal are either plain or
etched. The common shapes of plain
beads during the early historic period
were disc, spherical, cylinder, long
barrel, barrel, hexagonal, truncated
bicone, cornerless cube, truncated
convex bicone, convex bicone,
pentagonal, triangular, square, long
barrel hexagonal, fluted, oblate,
annular, lenticular, diamond shape,
trapezoid, mealon, oval, elliptical and
diamond. Among them disc,
spherical, cylinder and long barrel
shapes are predominant in Bengal
beads assemblage. On the other hand,
a majority of the disc and cylinder
shape beads were made of black and
white-banded agate. Bead makers
chose stone with one band for the disc
shape and stone with two bands for
the cylinder shape. In all probability,
they selected this material due to their
natural banding. Bead features
suggest that bead makers exhibited a
keen sense in selecting materials and
shapes.
In addition to the large number of
plain beads, a few etched beads made
of carnelian and agate have also been
found in Bengal. These beads are of
spherical and long barrel shapes and
decorated with different patterns.
Some of them are identical to Taxila,
marginal Kausambi, and Raighat
etched beads. The similarity of the
etched beads of the region implies
Bengal's contact with countries
outside her boundary.
Gl
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Glass beads are quite common, and
are made in a wide variety of
techniques and shapes. Gold-foil glass
beads are found in Mahasthan,
Chandraketugarh, Harinarayanpur and
Deulpota. Such beads have also been
reported in a very limited number
from several other sites in the
subcontinent. Peter Francis Jr argues
for the Egyptian origin of gold-foil
glass beads during early historic
times. Mahasthangarh has also
yielded sandwiched glass beads of
Middle East origin during the Early
Historic period. Several opaque
brown and opaque orange red glass
beads, which Peter Francis called Indo
Pacific Monochrome Glass Beads,
have been found at Mahasthangarh,
Wari-Bateswar, Chandraketugarh,
Harinarayanpur, Deulpota, Mangalkot
and Tamluk.

Stone Beads, Wari-Bateswar Stone Beads, Mahasthan

They reveal Bengal's contact with
Arikamedu and Southeast Asia in
ancient times. Indo Pacific
Monochrome Glass Beads were
manufactured at Arikamedu from
3rd century BC to 1st century AD
and later in Southeast Asian
countries like Sri Lanka and
Vietnam. The discovery of green
glass balls at Chandraketagarh
suggests the existence of a local
glass bead-manufacturing centre.
Besides semi-precious stone and
glass beads, abundant terracotta
beads, represented by common
shapes such as aricanut, barrel,
cylinder and ghata, and a few
copper, faience, steatite, coral (?)
and shell beads have been
discovered from limited sites in
Bengal.
The recent discovery of cores, flakes
and unfinished beads of crystal,
agate, amethyst, jasper and marble
reveal that the Mahasthangarh
region was a stone bead
manufacturing centre.

Core, flakes and unfinished beads,

Mahasthan
The raw materials for the beads
might have come from
Chhotanagpur Plateau and
Peninsular India. Semi-precious
stone beads could also have been
imported from well-established
bead-making centres like Ujjain,
Kausambi, Ahichchhatra, Paithan,
Ter, Kondapur, Jaugala, Cambay
and Bharhut It is not without
significance that the appearance of a
large number of semi-precious stone
and glass beads coincides with the
emergence of urbanization and
political entities in Bengal between
the Early Historic and Early
Medieval periods. It may be inferred
that the beads were imported as well
as locally manufactured to cater to
the demands and taste of steadily
growing and prosperous ruling class,
priests and traders.
[Seema Pawankar and SS
Mustafizur Rahman]
Bibliography Relevant articles on 'Beads',
'Semi-precious Stone Beads', 'Glass Beads'
published in Journal of Bengal Art, 2, 4, 5,
Dhaka, 1998-2000; Pawankar, S, MM
Hoque, Ahasan, SMK and Rahman, SSM,
'Semiprecious Stone Beads from Wari and
Bateshwar', Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1998; S
Chakraborty, 'Beads from
Chandraketugarh', Pratna Samiksha, 4 & 5,
Calcutta.

Harappan people loved to decorate themselves. Hair dressing by both, men and women,
is evident from figurines found at different sites. The men as well as women arranged
their hair in different styles. The people were also fond of ornaments. These mainly
included necklaces, armlets, earrings, beads, bangles, etc., used by both the sexes.
Rich people appear to have used the ornaments of gold, silver and semi-precious
stones while the poor satisfied themselves with those of terracotta.

sociel aspects
The making and usage of bead jewelry is a practice adopted since ancient period of
history. Indian jewelry is world famous, and some of the most gorgeous ornaments from
India, are to be found in the jewelry lines of private Indian jewelry designers.
Since then, a variety of material has been used to make beads which have in turn been
used to make jewelry. Some of the popular kinds of bead jewelry are: