The earliest representations of jewellery in South India were found in the mural paintings of the Tiruvambadi shrine in the Shri Padmanabhasvami temple, Trivandrum. Even the earliest European reference to jewellery also notes their use in the south, in Vijayanagar. However, the jewellery of Moghul India has been studied very extensively, thereby neglecting the jewellery forms of southern India.

The characteristic arrangements of stones in grid patterns are an abstraction of timeless features found in temple architecture. Thus, the twelve rubies which surround the pearl Nandi suggests the rasi mandala, or Zodiac ceiling panels of the kind found, for instance, in the twelfth century Subrahmanya temple at Pollachi in Coimbatore. The nine stones at the centre of the forehead ornament probably from Madras are the navaratna but the arrangement is again that to be found in temple architecture (for instance in the seventeenth-century Adikesava temple in Thiruvattaru, Kanyakumari district).

The parrots pecking lotuses seen in the sixteenth-century Bhuvaraha temple in Shrimushnam, is a kind of a motif found in nineteenth-century jewellery. Even the gold Nandi ring is formed rather differently as its gold-covered hoop has a core probably made from lac, but relies entirely on manipulation of the surface of the gold, or on applied gold, for its decoration. The sapphire Nandi ring illustrates the symbolic use of gemstones: the bull is the mount of Shiva and the stone suggests the colour of the god`s skin, as he is commonly depicted in painting.

South Indian jewellery often shows considerable monumentality, as can be seen in the so-called `Hawking Ring of Tipu Sultan.` The ring was in the collection of Henry Cornwallis Neville, the fourth Baron Braybrooke. Though Tipu Sultan in all probability, owned the ring, it is unlikely to have been made for him. The drawing shows a devanagari inscription on the breast of the bird and the catalogue entry notes that the inscription includes the word `Maharaja`.

The combination of the Hindu title and the devanagari script surely nullifies the making of the ring, as a product of a Persian or Moghul art. The many objects, which definitely were made in Mysore, and in some cases specifically for Tipu Sultan, are inscribed exclusively in Persian, with Arabic if the inscription has a religious content. Thus, the ring must, therefore, have been taken from a nearby Hindu ruler on one of the many campaigns undertaken by him, or by his father Haider Ali. Nevertheless, the provenance of the ring would make it a key piece in the history of south Indian jewellery; sadly, it was stolen from Audley End, near Saffron Walden, in 1951.

Thus, as one would have deciphered, the southern India jewellery, though has made its existence in the past, it is hardly acknowledged, unlike the north. In the Northern jewellery, similar forms are found across a wide area and changed relatively slowly across the decades; south Indian sculptures (and, to a lesser extent, paintings) reveal marked shifts in jewellery fashions, many with strongly regional characteristics.

Jewellery for the Head
This necklace is a tiger-claws set in engraved gold and linked by chains, suspended from a `snake` chain. The necklace, its ten tiger-claws graded in size, was purchased by the South Kensington Museum from the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle where it was described as `modern` work.

This is a Brooch and Pendant Tiger-claws set in sheet gold worked in repousse. Subrahmanya is one of the names of Karttikeya, the god of war. The Maharaja of Travancore presented this brooch and pendant to the Prince of Wales on his Indian tour of 1875-76. The goddess Lakshmi being lustrated by elephants is depicted on the brooch.



Rings
This ring (no.1) was cast in gold bezel, engraved and with applied gold spheres; hoop sheet gold over a lac core in the South India during the 18th century. It is seen that Nandi, the bull sacred to Shiva, is seated on a pedestal with the lingam, or phallic symbol of Shiva, before him. Enclosing this central image is an inscriptional band in Kannada that has not yet been deciphered.Underneath the bezel is a lotus chalice rising out of a band of small spheres which are applied round the shoulders, in a double band with a third band soldered on top. The beveled hoop is probably filled with lac; the outer edges have been crimped over a strip at the back, which covers the solid core. It is engraved with a single line, following the inner contour, and with a lozenge at the base. The ring (no.2) is a gold set with rubies and sapphires and the jeweled sections applied on to the sheet gold hoop. It is made in the 19th century South India.

This nandi ring (no.3) is a gold set with rubies, a spinel and a baroque pearl with a diamond `eye` from South India during the 18th century. The form of the pearl suggests that of a bull, which is here intended to be Nandi, the animal associated with the god Shiva which is found often at the entrance to Shaivite temples. The flat square support for the pearl and the geometrical arrangement of the eleven rubies and one spinel around it are characteristically southern Indian features. The nandi ring (no.4) is a Gold set with a carved sapphire bull and this ring came from the collection of Alessandro Castellani, acquired by the British Museum in 1872.

Anklets
This is an anklet, though formed in a pair, given here is a single one. As can be clearly seen, this anklet is made from cast silver, chased and has an engraved inscription. These dramatic silver anklets, inscribed as having been made at Oabhoi, demonstrate clearly that for religious reasons, gold ornaments` were not usually worn on the feet. Thus, foot jewellery was not lacking in value or ostentation.

Marriage Jewellery
Marriage jewellery occupies an important place in the repertoire of ornaments in the south. The two sisters from Madras in the photographs of 1892 probably wear their family`s best jewellery. Her necklace, or thalt, with its pendants composed of auspicious emblems, relates closely to one collected by Caspar Purdon Clarke in 1881 or 1882. Another impressive marriage necklace illustrates the way in which South Indian jewellery, whilst retaining its own unmistakable character, could not entirely escape the effects of fashion elsewhere.

The repose details on the pendants, worked in very high relief, are the source of the swami work so popular with the European market in the late nineteenth century. This is superimposed on to a support of abstract shape, whose origins can only be guessed at. Yet above and below the deities are applied panels pierced with scrolling designs that are utterly foreign to southern India and must have come via European jewellery. Even royal jewellery was subject to alien cultural and formal influences. A series of 18th century wall paintings in a temple in Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, depicts both historical episodes in the history of the local rulers, and scenes from the life of the king.

The paintings show an interesting array of contemporary Thanjavur jewellery and artifacts, but there is also a surprising Moghul influence. In a few scenes, including a coronation scene, the king is dressed in Moghul attire and turban, replete with turban jewels. The kingdom was also subject to European influence. One of the panels shows Europeans seated in armchairs before the king; another shows two European soldiers offering presents to him. By the time the Ramnad kingdom came under the administration of the British about seventy years later, European influence was beginning to show itself in the jewellery of southern India.

Necklaces
This necklace has Gold beads and pendant on black thread, the gold worked in repousse or stamped, with applied wire decoration and cut work panels, inscribed on the back and found in Tamil Nadu, in the late 19th century. The imposing pendant of this necklace is adorned with the images of the god Shiva and his consort Parvati seated on Nandi, the sacred bull, before a temple, all worked in repousse, which is pierced in places to reveal the gleam of a red foil backing. Above this, contrasting strongly both in its flatness and in the delicate curving of its cut tracery, is an applied panel depicting a deer dancing on its hind legs between birds of paradise taking flight. A second panel, beneath the repousse panel, has similar birds arranged on a formal scrolling ground with a central palmette.

This marriage necklace is stamped and chased along with lac-filled pendants on black thread. The cylindrical pendants, probably deriving ultimately from Iranian forms, were intended to contain small pieces of paper inscribed with Sanskrit mantras. The pendants are auspicious emblems, fruits and vegetables signifying abundance, or miniature representations of temple pinnacles. This was acquired by Caspar Purdon Clarke on his purchasing tour of India of 1881-82 and was said to be from Madura.

This is a gold, pave-set with seed pearls and turquoises, the heads with ruby eyes and enamelled details. This necklace, with its chain of interlocking scales, is an adaptation of the serpent jewellery, which was especially popular in the early Victorian period. A European serpent necklace or bracelet would usually fasten by looping the articulated scaly body over the head. On this piece, however, the scales terminate in two quite incongruous wolf-heads snarling each other.