Important Notice

Modern in style, the maang tika consists of three pear-shaped rose-cut diamonds with a diamond-set surround, suspending from a stylised openwork frame of full-cut diamonds and a gold chain with a hook.

Diamond: 3.71 carats
Gross weight: 6.36 grams



A maang tika is a forehead ornament worn where the hair is parted (maang), hanging down till the centre of the forehead. It is traditionally considered an essential part of a woman's ornamentation, and is one of the adornments that is, in some parts of the country, an auspicious symbol of marital felicity. Maang tikas are typically made of a precious metal and have a face set with gemstones, often with intricate enamelling on the reverse. They were prominently depicted in miniature paintings, and in the Mughal period, they were often made of pearls. Italian writer and traveller Niccolao Manucci, who wrote a memoir about the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era, described them as, "Upon the middle of the head is a bunch of pearls... with a valuable ornament of costly stones formed into the shape of the sun, or moon, or some star, or at times imitating different flowers. This suits them exceedingly well." (Quoted in "Women's Jewelry in Aurangzeb's Court," Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India, London: Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 347)

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