Ode To The Lotus
Karimnagar Filigree Jewellery
“As you make the moonlight the adornment of your bare body and rise from the depths of the water beneath the earth, with all the force of your celestial transient energy, I wonder whose home you would adorn in your full bloom. Whose greed would you satisfy to be the offering to Lakshmi for more prosperity”?
I can see you as you cry your heart out, oh maiden! You drown to die and rise again in the dead sorrow of your journey of rising from the murky depths of dirty, muddy water in your complete purity, what can be more intensely beautiful than you, my dear lotus maiden? No water from the murky dirty depths of despair can touch your pure soul as they drop off your petals. Yes, my Lotus Maiden you are the epitome of beauty in the ugly.
I saw her hand hanging by the large wooden staircase with the Karimnagar Filigree lotus bangle. Her hand had borne the cuts and bruises of holding on to dead relationships, hurt and moments of euphoria of letting it all go to adorn herself with this bangle symbolic of a symphony found in the transcendent energy of the moon and her tormented nights of despair. Her Lotus bangle covered the marks she bore.
Yes, I met Deepti Sudhindra on the steps of the Meherangarh Fort in Jodhpur. She had the beauty of an artist that remains untouched in spite of all life experiences. I recognised that in her as I see myself and reached out to her and said, “Deepti, may we talk once I return to Bangalore? I wish to write about your jewellery collection and your art”. She smiled at me and said, “Sure”. We exchanged our numbers and promised to get in touch. Her collection is called The Jewelry Project.
I saw and touched her jewellery pieces to feel each of the carvings on them. And in all her humility and charm she sent me few of them and I choose this filigree hand cuff.
Filigree jewellery was always a part of my hair pin collections. I was born with hair that grew long in spite of all the journeys of my life. This mane refused to be tied down in its growth. Unfortunately, I had lost the filigree hair pin in shifting cities and homes and would always search for this art in south India.
When Deepti sent me this lotus bangle, I couldn’t help but was pleasantly shocked and relieved that we have the same craft from Cuttack also being created in Karimnagar, Telangana. Art can’t die.
Very few people would be aware that this is a dying art form that needs desperate measures for its revival and is also the only source of livelihood for the artisans from this town. In the local language it is referred to as ‘Vendi Teega Pani’ which is silver wire work. This intrinsic art form is created by manipulating thin ductile metal threads, made mostly with silver and is curled and twisted to be given its special shape. The lotus is sacred to Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, which is the main filigree design in this handcuff from The Jewelry Project.
My ode to the Lotus is symbolic of the Brahma Lotus that blooms at midnight and dies as the sun sets. It is a special kind of a lotus found on the mountains. The stem of the flower is flexible yet does not break easily. Just like life and the concept of detachment, this flower doesn’t let anything remain on its pink petals and blooms in spite of it all it drops off like a detached emotion that needn’t stay long.
Deepti Sudhindra’s collection is available in The Jewelry Project and each of her pieces are a tribute to this wonderful cosmos with all the feminine energy found resplendent in her persona and in her creative endeavor. Crafted in 925 handmade sterling silver in the Karimnagar Filigree craft, this signature lotus cuff is a regal bangle and as I was told is a heritage and museum worthy piece of art.
I just got lucky as The Lotus whispered to me, “Stay in debris but don’t let it destroy you, create beauty from its bottomless dank darkness, to rise into your glory.”
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