Red and Green Stone Chandrakor Bugadi Earrings with Pearl Fringe

The face of this bugadi is a chandrakor — the half-moon shape that gives the Maharashtrian bindi its name and turns up across the region's ornament. Across the middle of it, red and green round stones alternate in two staggered rows, so the two colours interlock rather than sitting in separate blocks. A ring of white AD stones encloses that centre, and a fringe of round white pearls with small gold beads follows the lower curve.

Red and green together is the oldest combination in Indian stone-setting, inherited from ruby and emerald and kept alive in temple jewellery long after the precious originals became unaffordable for everyday ornament. Setting them alternately rather than in bands is the harder choice and the better one: side by side in blocks the two colours fight, while interlocked at this scale they read as a single rich texture from a distance and separate into two colours only when someone looks closely.

The practical argument for this piece is what it does not have. There are no hanging drops. Every other bugadi in this range finishes with one or two faceted beads swinging from the base, and those beads are what catch in loose hair, tangle in a dupatta and occasionally get pulled. This one ends at the pearl fringe, so the whole ornament is a closed shape with nothing loose on it. If you are wearing it through a long day — a full wedding programme, a day of travel, a shift at work — that is a real difference.

At about an inch it is a compact piece, and the chandrakor shape is wider than it is tall, so it follows the curve of the upper ear closely instead of hanging below it. The fitting is a long gold-tone shepherd hook that passes through a helix piercing.

Wear it as a pair with the hair off the face. The red and green make it a natural match for a green, red or maroon outfit, and for anyone who already owns a nath or a temple-style necklace it will sit in the same family without any effort. Keep the lobes simple — the alternating stones already supply the detail.

It is also worth saying what a bugadi is for, because it is not simply a second earring. In Maharashtra the upper ear has its own ornaments — bugadi and kudi — worn alongside whatever is in the lobe rather than instead of it, and the set is built to be read as a vertical line up the side of the face. That is why these pieces are small and why they sit flat: they are meant to complete a row, not to stand alone. Worn that way, even a compact piece like this one changes the whole look more than its size suggests.

Because availability on this piece turns over fast at the source, Keyura lists it for WhatsApp enquiry rather than direct checkout, so we can confirm stock before you commit.

Base metal is brass with a gold-tone plating. The stones are cubic zirconia and the pearls are shell-style faux pearls.

About the Gold-Tone Finish

This is brass with a gold-tone plating rather than solid gold, which keeps the price where it is and the weight low enough to wear comfortably. Plating is a surface rather than a bulk property, so how long it lasts depends almost entirely on what it meets — perfume, hairspray and sweat all shorten it, while a dry cloth after wearing and a closed pouch between wearings extend it considerably.

Care

Put this on after perfume, hairspray and hand cream, and take it off before washing, swimming or sleeping. Wipe with a dry soft cloth and use a dry soft brush around the stone settings and between any pearls, where a cloth cannot reach. Store it in a zip-lock pouch — which is what the supplier themselves advise, and the single most effective thing for a plated piece, because it keeps humid air off the metal. Never use silver polish, dip cleaners or an ultrasonic cleaner.