HOARDING JEWELLERY IN INDIA.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 119, 18 November 1908, Page 3

HOARDING JEWELLERY IN INDIA.

Never during its existence has India been so rich in jewellery as now, while tho people are; always adding to their stock. Savings from nearly all sources are disposed of in this way, and these savings " are being conr staiitly made, often at the, expense of clothing, sometimes at the expense of the greater necessaries of life. The making and the storing away '■ of wealth in this form .is the national peculiarity of the country. ; . Jewollery is regarded as the most stable kind of wealth, and fortunes are never counted without estimating the value of tho stock of jewellery.: It can always be pledged, or -disposed of. ; The market for its salo is never' closed, and never, depressed; The most „ ignorant native, who wishes/ to sell. A a .piece, of .jewellery knows its', market value.^quite/. well.- He can.' scarcely; jbe cheated. / „ Jewellery forms the greatest factor in Indian matrimony.- .The . .most lowly. f bride has her stridhan, which is occasionally equal to five, years' income of "^le. bridegroom. There is often a. scarcity} of clothing, sometimes a scarcity of cooking pots, generally not a particle of furniture, but nearly always a stock of jewellery. The wife that has no jewellery possesses nothing else. . She cannot bo robbed. -,' The family that does not have jewellery is ; absolutely , indigent. . One: of the, greatest boasts of the jewellery owner is that his hoards cannot bo taxed. A man may. own jewellery valued at a lakh oi' rupees^ and pay .no income-tax. This is a source of great satisfaction. , Jewelr lory yields no recurring income, but it is prized moro than Government paper.. If it never, increases it never diminishes, is a nationalsaying common among men and women alikei No native.. marriage, except among -the most impoverished, takes place without a transfer of •jewollery, and very frequently of new jewellery.