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Bidri

This art of silver inlay on metal has always kept historians guessing. Various accounts exist about its origin and entry into India and subsequently Andhra Pradesh.

If one were to believe the craftsmen themselves, they say that the art originated in Iran seven centuries ago. It was brought down by migrants. Zealously guarded by its practitioners, the art has successfully expressed the experiences of the Sufis, the aesthetic values of the Moghuls and the yearning of warriors to decorate their ornaments of valour-swords, daggers, lances and shields. Today, Bidri has been aptly contemporarised producing cufflinks, name plates and more. But always retaining the old grandeur that won the heart of many a king, warrior, scholar and commoner.