Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s5.26

c7.s5.26

GIRDLES—A favourite ornament with women was the gold girdle. One specimen found in Hoard No. 2 of Mohenjo daro is 3' 4" in length. It consists of 6 strings having long barrel-shaped cylindrical beads of translucent red carnelian, each being 4.85" long by ·4 in diameter in the middle and ·3" at the two ends. They are separated from one another by spiral beads and a vertical bronze spacer pierced with holes for the strings. At each end of the girdle there is a semi-circular hollow flatened terminal of bronze originally gilded. This perfect specimen is evidence of the high mastery in this art attained by the Indus Valley goldsmiths. Of long carnelian beads even the inside was polished, the process of boring and polishing being managed from both ends and the holes meeting accurately in the middle. Very probably a copper drill with fine emery powder was used.