The Tribal Tales

4.3
Visit to Girdharilal Jewellers
Mr Girdharilal Soni belonged to the goldsmith community called sunar in Hindi. He had migrated back to India 9 years ago. His family has been practicing
this craft of jewellery making since last 5 to 6 generations. After enquiring about the pictures of the tribal pieces of Rajasthani jewellery we got the information
and the validation that the kind of jewellery, about which we were researching, is worn by the Tribal community of Rajasthan.
He told us that the tribal jewellery is worn by the Banjara community and it is still worn not only in India but also in Pakistan as well. Mr Girdharilal told us
about the importance of some tribal jewellery pieces. As he has witnessed their making since he was a child, therefore, he had immense knowledge about the
tribal jewellery pieces. Although he did not make all those pieces he knew about the procedure of their making. He mentioned the use of stamping technique
for making pendants called Tabeez which represented the Gods and Goddesses worshipped by the community. He told us that silver was widely used as it
was affordable and was also considered to be pure.
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