In India it is expected that women adorn themselves from head to foot

In India they believe that only things covered with ornaments are beautiful. Poetry must overflow with rhetorical ornaments (alamkara), metaphors, alliterations, and other musical effects.

The verb alam-kara, “to adorn, to decorate,” means literally “to make enough” — for the simple appearance without ornament is “not enough” — it is poor, disgraceful, shocking, except in the case of an ascetic.

Hence the stress on adornment of the women, who are the poetry of nature.

from http://www.exoticindia.com/article/jewelry

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