Gold chandbali earrings take their name from the moon — chand — and the earring, bali: a crescent of gold below the lobe, often with pearls along its curve. Ours are made in meenakari and kundan, the colour fired in one shade at a time.
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Ask for designsAnatomy
The parts of a chandbali
Five parts, and each changes how a pair looks and how it feels by the end of an evening.
The top
The stud or small motif on the lobe that the crescent hangs from. It carries the whole weight, so on a heavy pair it is the part to ask about.
The crescentचाँद
The half-moon itself, wider than it is long. It is what makes a chandbali, and what frames the jaw.
The face
The front of the crescent: kundan or polki set into the gold, or the gold left plain and worked by hand.
The back
On a meenakari pair the back is enamelled in colour and seen every time you turn your head, so it is finished as carefully as the front. See our Meenakari Chandbali.
The fringe
Pearls or small drops strung along the lower curve. They catch the light and add movement without adding gold — though the ear still feels them.
The name
Chand and bali: the moon earring
The name is the description. A bali is a hoop earring, and chand is the moon: a chandbali is a hoop drawn into a crescent, its open side up, its full curve hanging below the ear.
Its pearl fringe ties it to Hyderabad, long called the City of Pearls, where a chandbali hung with seed pearls is still part of the bridal look. In Rajasthan the same crescent is filled with kundan and backed with meena instead.
Chandbali or jhumka?
A chandbali is flat and crescent-shaped, wider than it is long, so it frames the face from the side. A jhumka is a three-dimensional bell that hangs straight down and swings. Choose a chandbali to soften a long face or to suit an open neckline; choose a jhumka for movement, or to lengthen a round face.
Some designs join the two, with a small bell hanging from the crescent's tip.
Ask about a chandbaliWhat makes one chandbali heavier than another?
Three things more than its size: how much of the crescent is solid gold rather than open work, how densely it is set with kundan or polki, and whether the back is enamelled. The pearls of the fringe add to what the ear carries but not to the gold, so we quote the net gold and the stones separately.
Are chandbali earrings heavy?
They can be. The crescent is broad, so a stone-set pair in gold has real weight, while an open crescent with a pearl fringe is far lighter. With a heavy pair, add a sahara chain and a screw back.
What should I wear with chandbali earrings?
A neckline that leaves the jaw clear, and a choker or one necklace rather than layers — the crescent does a lot on its own. With a kundan choker, match the stones of the two.