St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-03-05
puNJAUe JEWELERS..

/ PUNJAU6 JEWELERS..
Their Rest Customer Found Among a,
| Poorer Classas.
No silver and little gold Is produced
+, in the Punjaub. The silver is imported
principally from China. in slabs, and IL
bars from Europe and Bokhara Colo
| is obtained in leaves from China and il
1 ingots from Europe and Australia.
The imports Of precious metals for the
manufacture Of jewelry are estimated
At $50 lakhs Of rupees per annum.
In 1881 the total number of workers
in gold and silver in the Punjaub wa
ASA The number has probably moi
been materially changed since then.
The gold is usually purified by max.
ing it into leaves, which arc sprinkled
with brick dust and salt and BY then
heating the whole in . slow FIRE. The
powder absorbs the impurities.
The common agency for the distribu-
ton Of the imported gold and silver
from the main importing centers, Del
hi, Amritsar. Lahore and Peshawar. u
the sraf. and for the most part all man
ufactured wares pass through the
hands of this individual He also acts
rs broker between the sunar and the
customers Of the latter. and in fact APP
pears to be to the sunar what the bum
niah is to the Observation-Disclosures
and pawnbrokeE. The sraf, further,
tests and weighs the ornaments when
they leave the hands of the sunar, act
ing IS arbitrator when disputes be-
tween buyer and seller call for adjudi-
cation. 1t is clear. therefore. that the
former In his manifold capacities has
great opportunities and that he is more
than suspected Of frequently connivinR
with the sunar to impose upon the pur-
chaser. and it is not denied that he is
sometimes implicated in the melting
down Of stolen goods.
The sunar appears to act In some re-
spect as jackal to the sraf, and fate has
been against him. In the first place
there is considerable doubt about his
belonging to q true caste; at all events
his social status Is cquivocal Mr.. ID
betson in his census report, abiding to
the subject, states that the sunar
''prides himself on being one of the
twin born" other castles, however, do
not apparently recognize this; the Jat,
for example. although he may follow
the same trade looks down on the sunar,
while in certain places he is regarded
rs little lower than the bunniah. Ira
dition affords the explanation in the fol-
lowing account of his origin: The god
dess Devi constructed man out of the
dust and sweat of her forehead and
babe him destroy q demon that was
prosecuting her. This was accom-
plished by first polishing the demons
nails. aud then by a promise to make
all his body shine similarly, Inducing
the fiend to sit on q charcoal fire. The
gold mass was presented to
the MAR. but like true sunar. he MUIR
INJURED at the inadequacy Of the reward,
Devi in disgust cursed him,
and the ban has laid heavy on his race
ever since.
So the roguery of the sunar. unlike
that of the sraf, is always in vain. He
Is nobody's friend and nobody trusts
him. Notwithstanding that the world
deals severely with him, his position is
and he is q factor in almost
every village community.
The reason for this is that the poor
Est classes have more or less money to
spend on his handiwork. Here, too, Is
in other parts Of the country, poor
and frugal meals are not in
consistent with a jswelry bedecked
wife. In the matter OF the ornamental
ion of themselves and their women the
Punjaubis are, it is stated, liberal
Tho respect for jewelry among the
. adduced as q great obstacle to the
OF money in commercial en-
erprises.
Only in large towns does the gold
'mith confine himself to working in
yold, and only there are distinctive
Of the trade recognized. In
towns and villages the gold |
smith and silversmith are usually iden-
ical. the term ''sunar" being equally
applicable to both, aud he turns his |
rand to enclosing. chasing and what |
,ver else his customers may require.
Each locality has q special reputation
or its manufactures Although almost |
my articles Of Punjaub jewelry can be |
procured in Delhi or Amritsar, . BRIDE
room in want of fringe gets it from
Sia:kot; while if silver-headed cane
s wanted it is bought in Nizamabad.
n the Gujranwallah district. Enam-
led wares should only be sought in
Nooltan or Kangra and inlsid work in
lotli Saharan, near Sialkot, or in
lujrat Weekly.