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Quick Answer
A South Indian bridal trousseau is built from seven distinct crafts, and each one is a different skill rather than a different look. Kundan is a setting technique in which refined gold is pressed around a stone. Jadau is the construction method, where stones are embedded into warm, softened gold. Polki is diamond left close to its natural, uncut form and backed with reflective foil. Repoussé temple work raises deities and motifs by hammering gold from behind. Kemp refers to the deep red and green stones set in closed gold. Kasu strings embossed gold coins into a supple chain. And the vaddanam, the bridal waist belt, is structural rather than decorative. Each technique produces a different weight, glow and silhouette, which is why each one belongs to a different ceremony.
A trousseau looks like a collection of necklaces. It is closer to a museum of living crafts, each with its own workshop, its own specialists and its own relationship with light. Understand how a piece is made and you understand why it looks the way it does on you, and why it works on one morning of the wedding week and not another.
Here is what actually separates kundan from jadau from polki, why temple gold is matte, and what the vaddanam is really doing under all that silk.
The seven crafts at a glance
Craft · What it is · How it holds light · Where it belongs
| Craft | What it actually is | How it catches light | Ceremony it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kundan | A setting technique using refined gold pressed around each stone | Bright gold frame around every stone | Pooja, Mehendi |
| Jadau | A construction method: stones embedded into warm gold, no claws | Stone-set front, worked gold reverse | Mehendi |
| Polki | Uncut diamond, foil-backed | Soft, warm, candlelit glow | Haldi, Mehendi (daylight) |
| Temple / repoussé | Relief hammered outward from the back of a gold sheet | Antique matte, diffused | Muhurtham, Reception |
| Kemp | Deep red and green stones in closed gold settings | Saturated, opaque colour | Pooja, Haldi |
| Kasu | Embossed gold coins strung into an articulated chain | Moving, fish-scale shimmer | Pooja, Reception |
| Vaddanam | Structural waist belt worn over the sari | Broad horizontal gold band | Muhurtham |
Kundan: the art of the pure-gold frame
The first thing to unlearn: kundan is not a stone. It is a way of setting one.
Craftsmen press ribbons of highly refined gold around each stone, building the bezel up layer by layer until the stone sits sealed inside a gleaming frame. No claws, no visible mount, just a continuous line of gold holding everything in place.
Because that gold is worked soft, kundan settings follow curves beautifully. This is the reason a kundan collar sits along the collarbone instead of standing away from it, and why layered kundan harams drape down the chest rather than hanging stiffly off the neckline. The technique gives the piece its flexibility, and the flexibility is what makes it wearable through a four-hour ceremony.
If you can see a bright gold outline hugging the edge of every single stone, you are looking at kundan work.
Where you'll wear it The Pooja's layered kundan haram, and the Mehendi's grand multicolour-stone collar.
Jadau: the construction behind kundan
If kundan describes how a stone is framed, jadau describes how the whole piece is built. Stones are embedded — jad — into gold while the metal is warm and yielding, so the gold itself grips the stone. There are no claws and no adhesive holding anything. The metal is the mechanism.
A single jadau piece traditionally passes through several pairs of hands, each with a defined role: the ghaadia who shapes the form, the chiterias who works the patterning, and the jadia who does the setting. The result is a piece finished on both faces — a front of stones, and a reverse of engraved or enamelled gold that only the wearer ever really sees.
That double-sided finish is the quiet tell of serious jadau work. Turn the piece over. A workshop that has treated the back as seriously as the front has told you a great deal about the front.
Where you'll wear it The Mehendi's pearl-strand jadau pendant mala.
Polki: the uncut diamond and its foil
Polki is a real diamond. It is simply diamond left close to its natural form — cleaved and polished, but not faceted the way a brilliant cut is.
The craft is in what sits behind it. Because a polki stone has a flat back, setters place a reflective foil underneath it. Light enters the diamond, meets the foil and is returned back through the stone, which produces polki's signature glow: warm, diffuse, closer to candlelight than to the sharp white flash of a modern faceted diamond.
That softness is exactly why polki owns the daylight ceremonies. Under an open sky or a mandap at 10am, a faceted stone can read as harsh and can blow out in photographs. Polki holds a steady warm light instead, and it flatters skin and silk at the same time.
Where you'll wear it The Haldi's polki choker with emerald drops and the long polki-emerald haar, and the Mehendi's layered polki haar.
Repoussé temple work: gold sculpted from behind
The deities, peacocks and lotuses on a temple piece are not carved into the gold. They are pushed out of it.
The technique is repoussé: the design is hammered outward from the reverse of a gold sheet, then the detail is refined from the front in a second stage called chasing. Working the metal from both sides gives high relief without the weight that a solid cast piece of the same depth would carry — sculptural presence at a wearable weight.
Temple pieces are then finished in an antique matte, and this is deliberate rather than decorative. A polished surface would throw glare across the relief and flatten the sculpting into a bright blur. The matte finish absorbs and returns light gently, so the modelling stays legible from across a room and in photographs, and the gold sits in harmony with the warm sheen of a Kanjeevaram rather than fighting it.
Where you'll wear it The wedding muhurtham's antique gold collar, and the Reception's antique Lakshmi pendant.
Kemp: the temple reds and greens
Kemp refers to the deep red and green stones set into traditional South Indian jewellery. They are seated in closed gold settings — backed rather than open — and that closed seat is what intensifies the colour, because light is returned through the stone instead of passing straight out the other side.
The effect is a saturated, opaque depth that thin transparent stones simply cannot deliver. It is also entirely practical: kemp is what allows a choker to hold its own against a loud Kanjeevaram border. Put a pale, delicate necklace against nine yards of temple-border silk and the silk wins. Kemp does not lose that argument.
Where you'll wear it The Pooja's kemp-and-pearl choker, and the Haldi's kemp-accent kadas.
Kasu: the coin as ornament
A kasu mala strings small embossed gold coins — traditionally carrying a deity or a royal motif — into a chain that behaves almost like fish scale.
The craft point is articulation. Each coin moves independently of the ones on either side of it, so the necklace flexes in every direction instead of holding one fixed curve. It follows the body as you move, and it lies flat over silk pleats rather than riding up over them. That makes the kasu mala the most comfortable long layer in the entire trousseau, which matters more than it sounds at hour five of a wedding day.
Where you'll wear it The Pooja's kasu mala, and the Reception's coin-collar necklace.
The vaddanam: architecture, not accessory
The vaddanam, the South Indian bridal waist belt, is the structural engineering of the trousseau. Worn over the sari at the natural waist, it does three jobs simultaneously.
It holds heavy pleats in place through a long ceremony, which is the practical job nobody photographs. It defines the silhouette, cutting a horizontal line into what would otherwise be an unbroken column of silk. And it connects the neck stack to the drape, so the necklaces, the sari and the belt read as one composition instead of three separate decisions.
Remove it and the whole look loosens — not just visually, but literally. That is why the vaddanam belongs to the wedding itself, the one ceremony where every craft in this article appears together on the same person at the same time.
Meet the crafts in person
Photographs flatten these techniques. Hands understand them. Come feel the difference between a polki glow and a diamond flash at our Jubilee Hills showroom, or book a Krishna Leela '26 craft-and-styling consultation on WhatsApp.
Book on WhatsApp Visit the showroomFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between kundan and jadau?
Kundan is the pure-gold setting technique — refined gold pressed around a stone to form its frame. Jadau is the construction method, where stones are embedded into warm, softened gold so the metal itself holds them. In practice most heirloom pieces use both: jadau construction finished with kundan setting, often with enamel work on the reverse.
Is polki a real diamond?
Yes. Polki is diamond in near-natural form — cleaved and polished, but not faceted like a brilliant cut. A reflective foil placed behind the flat stone returns light back through it, producing polki's characteristic soft, warm glow rather than a modern faceted diamond's sharp sparkle.
Why does temple jewellery look matte rather than shiny?
Temple pieces are finished in an antique matte that diffuses light across the repoussé relief work, so the sculpted deities and motifs stay legible instead of disappearing into glare. The finish also harmonises with the warm sheen of Kanjeevaram silk in photographs.
What is a vaddanam, and do I need one?
A vaddanam is the South Indian bridal waist belt worn over the sari. Beyond ornament, it anchors heavy pleats through long ceremonies and defines the waist under thick silk. For the muhurtham look, it is the piece that pulls the whole composition together.
Which craft should I wear to which ceremony?
As a working rule: polki for daylight functions such as the Haldi, because its foil-backed glow reads softly in sunlight; kundan and jadau for the Pooja and Mehendi, where colour and drape matter most; kemp where the jewellery has to compete with a heavy Kanjeevaram border; and antique temple gold with a vaddanam for the muhurtham and Reception, where sculptural weight and presence carry the look.
How should I care for kundan and polki jewellery?
Both are foil- and lac-sensitive. Keep them away from water, perfume, hairspray and ultrasonic cleaners, since moisture can seep behind the foil and dull a polki stone permanently. Wipe with a dry, soft cloth only, put the jewellery on last after makeup and hair are done, and store each piece separately in a soft pouch so nothing presses against the settings.
