Kundan, polki and jadau are three words you will hear in a single sentence at any bridal counter in Chandigarh. They are almost never equivalents. One names a stone, one names the gold that holds it, and one names the craft that brings the whole piece together. Once you can separate the three, you can tell a great deal about a necklace before anyone tells you anything.
Polki is the stone
Polki is natural diamond that has not been faceted in the modern sense. It is either a flat slice sawn from a crystal or a rough crystal with its natural surface left largely intact, given only a light polish. A brilliant-cut diamond carries fifty-eight facets arranged to bounce light back to the eye. A polki carries none, or only a handful.
That is why the two look nothing alike. A cut diamond throws light; a polki holds it. It has depth, a slightly milky interior, and it responds to candlelight and daylight rather than to spotlights. Because it is not judged on the four Cs, polki does not arrive with the familiar paperwork — which is exactly why you should ask what the stone is, in writing, before you buy. The word is also used loosely in the market for glass and quartz slices, so the question is worth asking every time.
Kundan is the gold, and the method
Kundan names gold refined to near-total purity, beaten into a foil fine enough to bond to itself under pressure at room temperature — no heat, no solder. The craftsman presses layer on layer of it around the edge of a stone until the stone is held fast. There are no prongs and no claws. The stone is not glued; it is held by gold worked around it by hand.
This is the part most buyers miss: kundan setting does not require a diamond. The same technique holds glass, semi-precious stones, coloured gems or polki. So the setting tells you about the workmanship, while the stone tells you about the value. A kundan piece set with glass has no gemstone value at all, however beautiful the metalwork.
Jadau is the whole craft
Jadau comes from a word meaning to embed. It is the umbrella term for the entire tradition — stones set into a gold body, held by kundan foil, over a core of lac, with meenakari enamel on the reverse. A properly made jadau piece is worked from the back as carefully as the front, and it passes through several pairs of specialist hands: the goldsmith who raises the frame, the enameller who finishes the reverse before any stone goes in (the kiln heat would destroy them mid-process), and the setter who seats each stone and presses the kundan home. The order cannot be rearranged, which is one reason a real jadau necklace takes months rather than weeks.
The three tells
- Turn it over. A serious jadau piece has an enamelled reverse — meenakari, in colour, often as finely worked as the front. A flat, stamped-looking back on a piece sold as jadau usually means only the front was worked on.
- The stones should not all match. Polki follows the rough, so a real polki line varies in outline, thickness and the way each stone holds light. A row of identical, perfectly regular, brightly sparkling “polki” is usually something else.
- Weight and sound. A lac-filled piece feels solid and does not ring when tapped.
What to ask before you buy
- What is the stone — natural diamond, laboratory-grown diamond, or glass?
- Has it been filled or treated? Polki and emeralds are sometimes filled to improve apparent clarity, and that should be disclosed.
- What is the gold purity, and can I see the hallmark and HUID number?
- Is the enamel work on the reverse hand-done?
At our counter in Sector 35C we will tell you plainly what a piece is made of — manufactured diamond, natural stone, glass-set or otherwise — and we are happy to put it in writing on the invoice.
Looking after it
Polki and water do not meet. Moisture seeps behind the stones and loosens the lac backing, so remove kundan and jadau jewellery before washing, and never clean it with liquid. A soft dry cloth after each wearing is the whole routine. Store pieces flat, each in its own compartment, in a dry airtight box. Wear perfume before the jewel, not after.