India has a long-standing cultural and societal affinity with gold and gold jewellery. Gold metaphorically represents the sacredness, purity and immortality that bind religious beliefs and culture together. Accumulation of gold is associated with material and non-material cultures where the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of the members engaged in production and consumption are bound into a complex relationship. The idea of the book initially originated from the course of research work. It was found that India has the largest unorganised jewellery industry, in terms of manufacturing and consumption unit. Jewellery fabrication in India is not just a profession for the jewellers, but it has been a family tradition extending across generations. Gold jewellery makers (sunars/swarnakars) are the spine of the jewellery industry. They acquired the skill of making jewellery from the experienced and learned gold smithery (karigars), either from their ancestors who were e
