Dzi Bead - Origin

Origin

Dzi stones made their first appearance between 2000 and 1000 BC, in ancient India: a few hundred thousand were supposedly brought back by Tibetan soldiers from Persia or ancient Tajikistan during a raid. Fear of the “evil eye” was taken very seriously by these people, so whoever made the dzi created talismans with “eyes” on them as a “fight fire with fire” form of protection. The makers used agate as the base stone and then added lines and shapes using ancient methods that are still not completely understood, possibly including darkening with plant sugars and heat, bleaching and white line etching with natron, and protecting certain areas with grease, clay, wax, or a similar substance. After the bead was decorated the makers would drill the hole, which was arduous work with a bow drill during ancient times. The smoothness and absence of cracks in the agates imply that the heating and bleaching processes took place at a high altitude or in some sort of ancient vacuum chamber.

Although the geographic origin of dzi beads is uncertain, it is accepted that they are now called "Tibetan beads," just like "Tibetan coral," which also came to Tibet from elsewhere. Tibetans cherish these beads and consider them hereditary gems. In this way they have survived many thousands of years, being worn by hundreds of individual people. Dzi are found primarily in Tibet, but also in neighbouring Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh, and Sikkim.

Sometimes shepherds and farmers pick them up in the grasslands or while cultivating fields, and because some dzi are found in the earth, some Tibetans don't conceive of them as man-made. The beads may have been lost long ago, when they would have been strung on relatively weak plant fibers, because the holes in dzi beads are too small to accommodate leather thongs and silk may not yet have been available.

Since knowledge of the bead is derived from several differing oral traditions, the beads have provoked controversy concerning their source, their method of manufacture, and even their precise definition. In Tibetan culture these beads are believed to attract local protectors, dharmapalas or deities or maybe beneficial ghosts, ancestors or even bodhisattvas. Because of this, dzi beads are always treated with respect..