SULEMANI
- BABAGORIA AGATE
BEADS
Sulemani is a recent Indian term for
black onyx or
black/brownish agate with one or more white stripes.
That beads made out of this material are referred to as Sulemani beads are due to the presence of Islamic
culture in India from the 12. Century onwards. The
Moslems, especially the Sufis preferred this type of
beads with one or more white stripes in their prayer
chains. However, they reused beads of a much older
origin and culture. A lot, but not all of the beads
displayed here are from central India. According to the
world-renowned bead expert Jamey Allen, the term for most
of the agate displayed here should be Babagoria.
The term Babagoria is used by the local people in
Central India living close to the sites from where most
of these beads have been sourced. Goria means in their
language bead. Baba means a holy man. So the locals
called these beads, holy man beads. They have for
centuries given these beads to both Muslim Sufis and
holy men from the Hindu tradition.
It is worth mentioning that the ancient agate mines in
Ratanpur, Gujarat were called Baba Ghori. Babagoria
simply reflects the common ancient cultural context in
which all beads were seen. They were relics, amulets,
and talismans worn by holy men in a two-way exchange:
they made the person who wore them holy - the holy
person who wore them sanctified the beads.
Most probably, the term Babagoria
was
then used by the
locals close to the ancient manufacturing places to hype
burial beads into sainthood, so they were
easier to sell as sacred beads.
It would not be the first or last time in history, where
people of trade had the last word in the name giving of
objects of commercial interest. The more recent term for
this type sulemani is most probably, like Jamie
Allen suggests, made to create an imaginary link to the
famous ancient King Solomon. Like the case is with
Spotify, where algorithms always prefer the lowest
denominator, the term sulemani beads has, however, by
now won the race.
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The beads
are
for sale
Go2
boxes to
buy from
Click
on the
box
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SM 1a -
average size 9mm -
'cooked'
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SM 1b - 5 to 6,5 mm - 'cooked'
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SM 1c -
4 to 8 mm - 'over cooked'
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SM 1d -
5 to 8 mm - 'over cooked'
Click on picture for a larger resolution
SM 1e
- 4 to 7,5 mm - 'over cooked'
Click on picture for a larger resolution
SM 1f
- 5 to 7 mm - 'over cooked'
Click on picture for a larger resolution
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However, it is also likely that
Sulemani was an
older but not ancient Islamic renaming of
beads already in use
for magic, religious, and currency
purposes
for thousands
of years.
Black/brownish beads with white stripes
were used as objects of worship and in prayer malas by
the Buddhists of Asia
and most probably also before that,
reaching back to 700 B.C.
In the Buddhist context
ball-shaped beads, suitable for malas are named
Bhaisayaguru beads.
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Click on
the box
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SM 2a
Click on picture for a larger resolution
SM 2a
Click on picture for a larger resolution
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SULEMANI AGATE
Displayed in illustration 1, 2, 3 & 4 you can observe
variations of typical Sulemani
agate beads.
Note the blank shining surface of these
beads.
Cylinder shaped Sulemani
Onyx
beads
Onyx is virtually black agate
which is two-layered. In the case of sulemani beads the
layers are primarily consisting of black/brownish and
white.
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SM 3 - 17 * 11 mm |
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SM 4 - 14 * 9 mm
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SM 5 - 23 * 10 mm
Illustration 3
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Truncated Convex Bicone Sulemani Onyx
Beads
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Illustration 4
 
SM 6 -
22 * 14 mm
 
SM 7 - 23 * 13 mm
 
SM 8 - 23 * 12 mm
SM 9 - 15 * 10 mm
Pendant sulemani
SM 10 - 18 * 11 mm |
AGATE HEATED BY FIRE
Displayed in the illustrations 5,6 & 7 you will see a
different kind of black and white banded agate than the
beads shown above. The patina of these two kinds of
agate is quite different.
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The difference in
patina
In illustration 5 the beads do not display the same kind
of glass-like shine as the beads in illustration 1, 2, 3
& 4. They have a more dusty, not reflective surface.
Greater contrast lines
Another characteristic is that the beads displayed in
illustration 5 show greater contrast between the black,
gray and white colors.
Black lines in white stone - not white lines in black
stone
Often the presence of white colored stone is, as you can
observe in illustration 6 dominating in this type of
agate:
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Illustration 6
SM 22 - 19 * 7,5 * 4 mm |
One could as a general rule say that the typical
Sulemani beads as displayed in illustration 1, 2,
3 &
4 have
stripes of
white
in a black
stone where this other kind of
beads displayed in illustration 4 & 5
have black stripes
in
white
agate.
50 shades of gray
It is also worth to note that this type of agate stone
often displays distinct bands of gray
color
in many shades:
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Illustration 7
SM 23 - 22 * 6 * 5 mm
SM 24 - 25,5 * 18 * 5 mm
A wonderful bow bead. Note the
distinct
black, gray and white color bands.
These beads were sourced from Burma.
They learned together with the spread of
Buddhism to manufacture these beads. |
The
absence of brown colors
Furthermore, this agate does not display brown or
brownish colors as you will often observe in the more
common Sulemani agate beads. An example of this brownish
color can be observed in these typical
Sulemani/babagoria beads:
CHANGE THROUGH
HEAT TREATMENT
The difference between the
'normal' Sulemani beads and these more white, gray and
black beads is due to differences in the heat treatment
process. These beads have been either deliberately or by
accident been put in fire making them more
white-black-grayish. The change might also be caused by
the heat from a funeral pyre.
Great art through fire!
Whatever the reason... seen from an artistic viewpoint I
love the appearance of these beads much more than the
more ordinary ones with their brownish colors as you can
observe above.
That leads me to the last theory, a theory I believe is
closest to the truth: These beads have been deliberately
produced to look like they do. They are simply too
beautiful to be a coincidental side product of a burial
pyre. According to Mr. Malik Hakila, a world leading
bead expert and a bead shop owner from Kathmandu who
also runs a bead factory in Cambay, Gujarat, there were
two separate ancient bead cooking techniques involving
in producing these Central Indian beads.
1) Ancient dry cooking by high temperature
The oldest technique, as one can observe in
illustration 5 to 8, was to heat-treat the beads
without oil, like the ancient Indians did with
carnelian, but with a much higher temperature. In this
way, the beads became non-translucent and with intense
jet black and powerful white bandings, which is an
advantage seen from an artistic viewpoint. The problem
with this technique is that it weakens the stone so
badly that it easily breaks. Even in the finished
specimen, one can find a lot of scars and cracks, as you
can observe in illustration 7. Scars and cracks
can happen anytime with this type of beads. I even had
some specimen that cracked right in my hand.
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Click on picture for larger version
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Vulnerable beads
In central India, there are ancient sites with
huge piles, almost ton's of ancient broken beads
made with the old and dry heating method. The
massive presence of this type of beads in a
broken condition indicates the problem with the
fragility of beads made by the old production
method.
A lot of these beads simply did not survive the
manufacturing process itself.
On the illustration, you can observe beads taken
from such a junk pile close to the bead
manufacturing place. Here we can observe beads,
broken before and after getting polished and
some broken during the tumbling process itself
as with the bead in the upper right corner with
a polished bead crack surface.
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2) A more modern oil cooking
technique
The other and more modern, but still ancient technique
would be to cook the beads in oil. This technique keeps
the natural transparent parts of the agate and at the
same time upholds the strength of the bead. This method
replaced the former one about 2300 years ago. However,
the two techniques have most probably run parallel for
quite some time, depending on customer demand.
Larger & older holes in the dry & hot cooked beads
The holes are as you can observe in illustration 5 to
8 and mostly much larger in the dry & hot cooked
beads than in the more common agate bead in this
traditional oil cooked bead:
The generally larger holes in the dry & hot cooked beads
support the theory of two distinctly different ways of
bead treatment with radical different appearances.
Larger variation in motives in dry & hot cooked beads
Displayed in Illustration 8 one can observe the
presence of ultra swirling and abrupt geometric motives
and multiple eye formations in the dry cooked and
super-heated older type of beads. Swirling circular
motives are typical for normal agate, but even more so
in these specimens. It seems the different layers in the
agate chosen for dry & hot treatment are more irregular
and hence more interesting. Therefore my next hypothesis
is: In order to get the best art beads out of the
swirling effects of the agate, the the beads with most
interesting patterns and swirls were chosen for the old
heat treatment technique and the one with more regular
banding were chosen for the new technique.
The most wonderful artful swirling play of circles is
displayed in illustration 8
below, but can also clearly be observed in
illustration 5.
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THE
USE OF OIL COOKED BEADS AS CURRENCY
For every over-cooked more ancient bead there are
hundreds of oil cooked beads.
Is it a coincidence that oil cooked beads
in mass production appeared on the historic Indian scene
at the same time as the rise of the use of money,
nishka? I don't think so. The oil-cooked beads
fulfilled the need of currency before the minted coins
took hold. For a long time, bead-coins and metal coins
most probably have coexisted. In this process of
monetization of beads, the production of the over-cooked
beads had to make way for the oil-cooked one out of two
simple reasons.
Oil-cooked beads were more durable and were not likely
to break when shifting hands in circulation.
Oil-cooked beads were less individual and artistic. When
cooked in oil the beads tend more to look like each
other, which is an advantage when used as currency.
With the rise of urban trade, artistic beads had to give
way to the more consistent mass production of
bead-currency.
THE TALISMANIC POWER OF THE ANCIENT DRY & HOT COOKED
BEADS
In a way, all ancient
beads are amulets - if one think they are. The
'amuletic' power of a bead can never be isolated from
the particular belief system in which the owner of the
bead orients himself. In my view the world is
constructed out of collective minds accepting the same
story told reality. The naming of beads is part of the
same game. Should we call these beads Sulemani,
Bhaisayaguru or Babagoria beads? Each name attracts a
certain collective reality, and these 'realities' will
fight internally about who is the most real reality.
Beauty is my religion
My belief system is centered around beauty
- not beautiful beauty, not a perfect beauty, but
transcendent beauty hidden in the perfection of the
imperfect. I would call it the sublime.
Imperfect, fragile bead amulets like these ancient over
cooked beads are full of story telling like faces of old
men and women. Therefore I call these beads sublime, and
that is why I wrote a
praise to the scarred bead.
To see the world as a story told reality or maybe even
fantasy is in fact very close to the ancient Indian
philosophy and according to my observations exactly the
part of Indian religious culture that originated, not
from the Arian invasion, but from India's own ancient
super culture: the Indus culture.
Where we in the West tend to describe all mind made
realities as unreal in opposition to
positivistic science, the ancient Indian thinking is one
step ahead in pointing out - long time before the
quantum physicists - that the observer is actually
creating the observed.
Therefore beads have the power you observe them with.
But why ancient beads? Why not something plastic
fantastic?
Exoplanetarian beauties
When I look at these worn and torn ancient dry &hot
cooked beads - sometimes looking like exoplanets from
far away solar systems - I am taken by awe. They are the
eye bead displayed above full of fragile cracks emitting
ancient light. Their swirling unpredictability makes
them perfect as amulets setting the course for my own
unknown future.
The typical Asian collectors would not like them due to
their imperfections.
I however, observe this imperfection as perfectly
imperfect.
An ancient bead is due to its history and aesthetic
appearance an ideal focus point for meditative
concentration of the powers of and in the mind. The
scars, marks, and cracks are ancient signatures of time
itself.
It is an ideal hub where the Soul and the zero can meet,
but not in the ideal formlessness of the zero alone.
Because by accepting the scar as beautiful, you accept
the imperfect life you live as beautiful. No need of
escaping into the perfect, but depersonalized space of
the zero.
THE (W)HOLE IN THE EYE
- THE ZERO AND THE SOUL
The wonderful ancient big holed ball
beads displayed here illustrates the ancient bead makers
preference to put the hole as far as possible in the
center of the eye.
The reasons for placing the hole in the eye could
be
several. One is most probably religious and symbolic.
The other could be purely out of
aesthetic reasons.
It is worth noting that the hole in a bead also
resembles a zero. This is particularly interesting
because it was the Indians who invented the zero. The
Hindi name for zero is still today the word shoonyo,
an old Buddhist word for the fundamental perfect
emptiness of existence.
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Illustration 9 |
SM 32 - 14,5 * 11
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SM 33 -
15 * 12 mm (Afghanistan)
- Sold |
SM 34 - 11,5 * 10 mm
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SM 35 - 10 * 8,5 mm |
SM 36 - 11,5 * 11 mm |
SM 37 - 9 * 7 mm |
SM 38 -
10 *
9,5 mm -Sold |
SM 39 - 10 * 8,5 mm |
SM 40 - 9 * 7,5 mm |
SM 41 - 9 * 7,5 mm -Sold |
SM 42 - 8 * 6,5 mm |
SM 43 - 7,5 * 6,5 mm -Sold
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SM 44 - 6 * 5 mm -Sold
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SM 45 - 6,5 * 5,5 mm |
SM 46 - 7,5 * 5,5 mm -Sold
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SM 47 - 6 * 5 mm
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Below you can observe a few beads with holes drilled
with apparently no considerations to the eye patterns.
The reasons for this could be several. Mainly I think it
is due to technicalities, in the sense that the very
nature of the stone could demand the hole to be drilled
in a
particular
place.
The hole could also be put
as you can observe in the beads below out of other
aesthetic motivations. The reason could also be due to a
bead makers ignorance or not caring about symbolic eyes.
There were countless centers for bead making in India -
both seen in a historical and geographical view.
Most probably these centers had different cultural
and religious views. As there always in ancient India
were many different gods and religions there must also
have been a lot of difference in the context of
mindsets.
So it is possible that we had centers of bead making
where the bead makers did not care about symbolic eyes
and holes. It is here worth to remember that India had a
great time of skepticism and atheism already 100 years
before the birth of the Buddha.
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NEW HOLES IN OLD BEADSThis ancient bead
displayed below has no hole.
It never made it the whole way to the end of the manufacturing
process. It is not uncommon to find such
beads.
The wonderful beads SM 53,54 and 55
just below are ancient. However,
they were found without hole. So the finders of the beads
drilled new holes in them. Unfortunately,
my scanner is somehow not able to catch the true translucent
beauty of these beads.
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SM 53 - 11 mm - a bead whithout hole
SM 54 - 15 mm
SM 55 - 14 mm
SM 56 - 13,5 mm
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BABAGORIA
BEADS IN VARIOUS DESIGNS
In the following section you can, if you
like, try to see the difference between the two kinds of
agate.
Since I
hunt the
older dry & hot cooked
agate
beads, most of the beads
displayed below
belong to that category.
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SM 57 - 18 * 7 * 6 mm
SM 58 - 17 * 8,5 * 7 mm
SM 59 -
12 * 7
mm
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SM 60 -
12 *
6,5 mm
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SM 61 - 12 * 8 mm |
SM 62 - 9 * 7 * 6 mm
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SM 63 - 11 * 6,5 mm |
SM 64 - 12,5 * 7 mm |
SM 65 -
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SM 66 - 11,5 * 6 mm
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SM 67 - 14 * 7 mm
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SM 68 - 12 * 7,5 mm
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SM 69 -
10,5 * 5 mm
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SM 70 - 9,5 * 7 mm
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SM 71 - 13 * 6 mm
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SM 72 - 9 * 5 mm |
SM 73 - 12 * 6 mm
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SM 74 - 15 * 6 mm |
SM 75 - 14 * 4 mm
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SM 76 - 12,5 * 7 mm |
SM 77 - 9 * 7,5 mm
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SM 78 - 10 * 7 mm |
SM 79 - 9 * 5 mm
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SM 80 - 9 * 5,5 mm |
SM 81 - 9 * 7 mm |
SM 82 - 8 * 6 mm |
SM 83 - 9 * 8 mm |
SM 84 - 8 * 7 mm
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SM 85 - 11 * 6 * 4 mm |
SM 86 - 9 * 7 * 4,5 mm
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SM 87 - 14 * 8 mm
Note the very rare blues stripe |
SM 88 -
11 * 7 mm
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SM 89 - 12 * 5,5 mm |
SM 90 -
11 * 5 mm
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SM 91 - 9 * 5 mm |
SM 92 -
9 * 6 mm
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SM 93 -
8,5 * 5,5 mm
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SM 94 - 8,5 * 5 * 4 mm |
SM 95 - 9 * 6 mm
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SM 96 -
8 * 5 mm
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SM 97 - 11 * 8,5 * 6 mm |
SM 98 - 10 * 6,5 mm
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SM 99 - 8 * 6,5 mm |
SM 100 - |
SM 101 - 10 * 11 mm
SM 102 - 5 * 8 mm |
SM 103 - 5 * 6 *
5,5 mm
SM 104 -
25 * 7 mm
SM 105 - 17,5 * 7 mm
SM 106 -
18,5 * 12 mm
SM 107 -
17 * 6,5 mm
SM 108 - 16 * 7 mm
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BALL BEADS
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SM 109 - 6 * 5 mm |
SM 110 - 6 * 6,5 mm |
SM 111 - 7 * 6 mm |
SM 112 - 7,5 * 6,5 mm |
SM 113 - 7 * 6,5 mm |
SM 114 - 7 mm |
SM 115 - 7 * 6 mm |
SM 116 - 7 * 6 mm |
SM 117 - 7 mm |
SM 118 - 7 * 5 mm |
SM 119 - 8 mm |
SM 120 - 8 mm -Sold |
SM 121 - 8 * 7 mm |
SM 122 - 8 mm |
SM 123 - 8 * 7 mm |
SM 124 - 8 * 7 mm |
SM 125 - 9 * 7,5 mm |
SM 126 - 9 * 6,5 mm |
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SM 127 - 9 * 7 mm -Sold
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SM 128 - 9 * 6,5 mm
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SM 129 - 9,5, * 8,5 mm
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SM 130 - 9 * 10 mm
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SM 131 - 10 * 7 mm -Sold
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SM 132 - 10 * 9,5 mm |
SM 133 - 10 * 12 mm -Sold
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SM 134 - 10 * 6,5 mm -Sold
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SM 135 - 10 * 10,5 mm
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SM 136(1) - 11 * 9 mm -Sold |
SM 137 - 11,5, * 7,5 mm
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SM 138 - 11 * 7 mm |
SM 139 -
11 * 10,5 mm
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SM 140 -
14 mm
SM 141 -
14 * 12 mm
Ancient bead with a new hole
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This wonderful flat oval tabular, natural banded
Sulemani agate bead displayed blow has a beautiful
patina and a unique pattern. This bead has been
heat treated with honey or sugar.
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SM 185 -
26 * 23 * 12 mm
Origin: The Himalayas
Period: 300 B.C. to 1000 A.D.
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SM 186 -
27 * 18 mm
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Sulemani pendant beads
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SM 187 -
22 * 9,5 mm
SM 188 -
15 * 8 mm
SM 189 -
21 * 9 * 7 mm
SM 190 -
11,5 * 9 mm
SM 191 -
14 * 9 mm
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Buddhist Bhaisajyaguru beads
Sulemani agate was as mentioned in the beginning used by Sufi
Moslem Faqirs and before that, they were used as Buddhist prayer
beads. Especially Afghanistan is interesting in this context.
Afghanistan was a predominantly Buddhist culture up to 1000 AD!
The ball shaped Sulemani beads are
also known as Bhaisajyaguru beads.
These Prayer beads remove according to the Tibetan tradition,
roots of diseases, ensures health and longevity.
In
Mahayana Buddhism,
Bhaisajyaguru represents the
healing aspect of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni. These beads
have been in the hands of beings with pure intentions for
generations. Some of these beings may even have been
enlightened!
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Here you can see the wonderful Bhaisajyaguru eye bead from
Afghanistan that is displayed on the top of the page
Bead Magic. It really shows that
the bead hole itself actually can serve as a Magic Eye!
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SM 0 - 14 * 14 mm
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And here
are some boxes to buy from:
Note the peculiar bluish light in these rare specimens
SULEMANIBOX 1
Click on boxes for larger picture
SULEMANIBOX 2
SULEMANIBOX 3
SULEMANIBOX 4
SULEMANIBOX 5
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