Oh Kumar. He is so sweet. Last year one of my friends wanted a navaratna ring made. Kumar loves making navaratna rings because they are auspicious and very powerful. It means nine precious stones and each stone represents a different Indian god and a different planet, all aligned perfectly to help the wearer in their life.
My friend gave me an old ring she had, she wanted to use the gold for her new ring, but she said, please give the diamond to Kumar as a gift. When I told this to Kumar (see story from last year here), he could not believe it. He said, “Samia, someone from America is giving me a diamond?” As a hardworking goldsmith, this is a grand gift. He was very happy. He took it home, showed it to his family, his friends. He thought for weeks about what he was going to do with it. He didn’t know if he would sell it, or make a piece of jewelry for his wife or what? Several weeks later, he said to me, “Samia, I am thinking I will make one gold pendant with the diamond placed in the middle and I will give it to the Saraswati temple as an offering.” Here he is, he could have done so many things with this diamond and he chose to give it to the gods.
Saraswati is the Indian goddess of wisdom, music, arts and science. She is very revered throughout India.
When I saw Kumar the other day, he said to me. “Samia if you would have arrived a few days back you could have seen the pendant I made for Saraswati.” He made the pendant and on the auspicious day of the Goddess during their yearly festival of Dasara, Kumar went to the temple and offered the Goddess the pendant of gold and diamond. It was beautiful (if only I had a photo). He was so happy.
The temple in return gave his wife a handwoven silk sari. A sari that had been blessed by the priests and had been worn by the Saraswati Statue at the Temple. A very auspicious gift indeed.
In the end, everyone is happy. I asked Kumar why he decided to give it to Saraswati versus other Indian goddesses. He said, “Because she is the holder of knowledge. I want my children to have much knowledge so they can live a life of happiness.”
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