Ear Ornaments of Ancient India

by Michel Postel

Michel Postel, a French national and resident in India since 1950, is a pioneer in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry. He started the Project for Indian Cultural Studies in 1978 which sponsors research in Indian Art and Culture. Our first publication, Antiquities of Himachal, in collaboration with Prof. Armand Neven of Brussels, was acclaimed as an achievement in a field which was little explored and practically unknown, the arts of Himachal Pradesh. The studies of mohras, the divine masks which converge from remote hillside villages to the fairs in the valley towns of kullu and Mandi, was a first. In this second publication, Mr. Postel has assembled documents never published before, and his conclusions may surprise archaeologists and art historians: Earrings had a definite meaning in ancient Indian culture and were associated with symbolism which goes back to the Harappan culture and probably beyond. The symbols depicted on them were auspicious and apotropaic and had to be worn in order to protect the wearer. This study is probably a first bold step in the evaluation of this little known aspect of Indian culture.