VBJ keeps followers spellbound with majestic projects for Hindu temples globally

Jewellery adorns the wearer, but seldom does a piece of jewellery get a chance to adorn a deity. When that happens once in a blue moon, the value of the jewellery brand behind that piece attains a new high in the religious stratosphere. Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers is one such brand doing this for temples across India and abroad and has only recently shared its tit-bits on social media.

Speaking with Amarendran Vummidi, Managing director of VBJ, one understands that designing priceless bejeweled artefacts for religious places of worship has been part of the brand’s unique offering since 80 years. “My grandfather had artisans design jewellery for temples. The brand has left its artistic imprint in over a 100 temples. VBJ has collaborated with mostly Vaishanavite and Shaivite temples in India where gold and silver are used in India. In the US, the brand has used diamonds to embellish many temples,” said Vummidi.

The karpagriha of any temple is the most sacred place and seldom allows access to non-priests, said Vummidi. This is where the expert designers and craftsmen show their prowess as they take manual measurements and sketch a draft of the design without any access to photography. They then return to make a mock piece, ensure its fittings back in the karpagriha and start working on the final piece upon success of this process.

The longest project in this aspect by VBJ has been the Balaji Shiva Vishnu Temple in Livermore, California. “We made a mukut, a sankhachakram, abhayahastam and katikahastam. The entire set had over 400 carats of diamonds, containing over 30,000 diamonds,” he said, adding that the brand was only given one chance by the temple authorities to collect measurement.

“We had to fit the final piece perfectly without any trial. Our craftsmen took 10-15 days to take the measurement and flew to California on special-purpose visa. We delivered it on time in three months as promised,” he said. The range of jewellery was fitted at the desired place in the temple in 2018, which thrilled the temple authorities and gave a sense of accomplishment to devotees. This project is now promoted by the brand on its Instagram handle, thrilling followers.

Such projects compel one to take note of the brand and its devotion to jewellery on a spiritual level. Citing another instance, Vummidi stated that the brand has made a Yagnopaveetham (sacred birth thread)for the deity of Lord Vishnu in Tirupati Balaji Temple, Chittoor, with 1.7kg of platinum and 10 carats of diamonds. “This is the first time the deity has an embellishment in platinum and VBJ is priviledged to have its name attached to the project,” said the MD.

One of the striking revelations by Vummidi was the brand’s reputation during the partition of India. At that time, Lord Mountain gave abejewelled article to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the transfer of power, which was made by VBJ. “We tracked the piece and have located it in Allahabad, officially Prayagraj now. We’re working to get hold of the piece to share further information,” said the retailer.

Written by Shubham Dasgupta

RJ exclusive