How did the Indian jewellery trade grow?
It was concentrated in the Deccan, south of the Vindhyas. The rubies came from Burma, the diamonds from the Golconda mines, the emeralds from Colombia via the Portuguese and the Spanish trade. And the port of entry was invariably Goa. Upto the 16th Century, secrecy shrouded the location of gem mines. The local ruler controlled access; the best stones went into his treasury. Middlemen handled the stones, which they transported to gem bazaars at the nearest town, where craftsmen migrated from all over the country. That’s how jewellers from Haryana, Bengal, Lahore, even Rajasthan, came to settle in Hyderabad.
