Gold has been found in some of the world’s oldest archaeological sites — intricate, purposeful, and deeply symbolic. Long before it was currency, it was power. And over the centuries, gold has glinted its way into rituals, empires, economies, and eventually, the Indian imagination.

Here, it became more than wealth. It became a legacy. Gold was something you wore, prayed with, passed down — something that shimmered not just on the body, but in memory. From the divine glow of temple vimanas to the delicate thread work of a zari border, from black-and-white cinema to today’s digital wallets — gold is everywhere, and always has been.

But gold has a shadow too.

The trio also explores the messier side of this obsession — how high import duties, deep demand, and old-fashioned jugaad gave rise to an entire economy of smuggling. From bizarre hiding places to spy-movie-level seat swaps, the lengths people go to for a few hidden grams reveal just how much gold still matters.

Why do Indian households own more gold than most nations?
How does something so old still feel so personal — so emotional?

This episode isn’t just about facts. It’s about the quiet power gold holds in our culture: in rituals, art, cinema, medicine, even in the metaphors we use to describe love, beauty, and value itself.

The shine may fade. The stories won’t.

Credits: Produced by Jimmy Xavier.

Radio Azim Premji University: Akshay Ramuhalli, Bruce Lee Mani, Gorveck Thokchom, Kishor Mandal, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Ram Sheshadri, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar.