Rajasthani

In the walled city of Jaipur, where the buildings are painted pink and the bazaars smell of rose and sandalwood, the jumka tells a story in enamel. The craft is called Meenakari — the art of fusing coloured glass powder into grooves cut into metal, fired until it glows.

Rajasthani jumkas are heavy and proud. The dome is wide, the drops are many, and the colours are unapologetic — turquoise, vermilion, cobalt, green. These are earrings made for sun. For dust. For festivals where the whole street becomes a procession.

The craftsmen of the Johri Bazaar have been learning this from their fathers' fathers. The Mughal emperors brought the technique from Persia in the 16th century. The artisans of Jaipur made it their own.