Context (Field collection)
Part of a collection of Indian material donated by Gait, numbered E 1916.148.1-87 (from the entry in the accessions register). These items were also numbered as AR 1916.190.1-87 (from the entry in the Annual Report). Some items have since been known only by their Annual Report number and so, for the sake of consistency, the whole collection has been entered on computer as AR 1916.190.1-87. Original accessions numbers are entered in the CRN field. (Alison McKeating, April 1995)
Event Date 22/3/1995
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
White, blue and yellow bead necklace. Worn by young men and women
Event Date 22/3/1995
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Bead necklace
Blue, yellow and white beads
Event Date 7/12/2016
Author: maa

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2016.3474 | Remedial
Event Date 4/8/2016
Author: Kirstie Williams

Context (Display)
'Another India: Explorations and Expressions of Indigenous South Asia' 07/03/2017 - 22/04/2018 MAA exhibition label text reads:

Adorned bodies in Chota Nagpur

In 1916 the governor of Bihar and Orissa donated almost one hundred artefacts from the province to this Museum. Half of these, from the Chota Nagpur area, are thought to have been collected by Sarat Chandra Roy, a lawyer who had long worked with and on behalf of Adivasis in the region.

These ornaments, which Roy had described in his book The Oraons of Chota Nagpur the previous year, point to Adivasis’ connections with peoples nearby and across India. Presented here, removed from the bodies that gave them movement and sound, they call our attention to absent bodies.


1. Women’s necklaces (mala)

These would have been worn all at once by one woman. Glass beads were bought at market, imported from sources in India and beyond. Necklaces of brass discs, worn by men or women, imitate coin necklaces, reusing currency as body adornment.

Oraon. Chota Nagpur
Collected by Sarat Chandra Roy Donated by Sir Edward A Gait, 1916 E 1916.148.18-23

Event Date 22/3/2017
Author: Remke Velden

Exhibition (Li Ka Shing Gallery)
EXH.2017.2 | Another India: Explorations and Expressions of Indigenous South Asia
Event Date 8/3/2017
Author: Remke Velden

Description (Physical description)
Mala. White, blue and yellow bead necklace. The ends and the central motif of the necklace have white and yellow beads arranged into flower shapes, with blue beads around them. At the sides of the necklace, white beads are arranged into three strands. Worn by young men and women.
Event Date 28/2/2023
Author: Flo Sutton

Context (Field collection)
'Asia; South Asia; India; [Chota Nagpur]; ?Jharkhand; ?West Bengal; ?Orissa; ?Chhattisgarh' has been entered as the place, as these are all contemporary regions corresponding to the historic region of Chota Nagpur.
Event Date 28/2/2023
Author: Flo Sutton