In vedic astrology, Yellow sapphire or Pukhraj is the gemstone of Jupiter/ Guru/ Brihaspati and is used to harness his saatvik powers in planetary gem therapy.

A gemstone is mostly measured on the benchmark of 4C’s to ascertain its value and ‘fineness’ (barring of course, cases where the gem is so very rare that only rarity becomes the value determining factor). While color clarity and carat weight are well discussed parameters, the ‘cut’ is the least discussed.

Round brilliant diamond - What is what in your diamond

When you look at this gem it is one of the finest specimens of colored gem lapidary. Lapidary or the art of gem cutting and faceting is not as simple as it may seem on the surface. The story with diamonds is different with the cutter looking for accentuating the brilliance, dispersion and scintillation. While the oblique pavilion facets throw back the light causing brilliance, the crown facets cause the dispersion and give the resultant ‘fire’ to the diamond. A round brilliant cut (any caratage, even the minutest) diamond has 58 facets (culet included). It is these large number of facets that scintillation or the twinkling effect!

The world of colored gemstones is much more complicated because of two major factors – firstly the colored gemstones possess lesser dispersion and secondly the presence of color (the prize factor) needs to highlighted keeping the nature of the crystal structure of gemstone and mineral characteristics in consideration. The colored gemstone also shows several shades at different angles.

The way the pavilion of a gem is fashioned, more specifically the size and angle of the pavilion facet that often determines, how the light is thrown back to the eye and consequently how brilliant the gem appears. It is important to understand that different gem minerals have different refractive indices. Aside of the angle of pavilion, the critical angle of the gem is extremely critical too. The critical angle of a gem is inversely proportional to the refractive index of a gem.

For instance if the light falls outside the critical angle of the gemstone ( which it will, if the pavilion angle is not fashioned correctly ), only the total internal reflection occurs and light rays are unable to exit the surface and give a brilliant appearance!

Action of a path of light within a gemstone. Courtesy University of Wisconsin-Madison

However, if the pavilion facet is fashioned in keeping with the critical angle of the gemstone, the light finds the right exits (without causing total internal reflection) giving a brilliant appearance to the gem. This is called Planned leakage and is completely in the hands of a master gem cutter! The longer the path of a ray, the more brilliance will be seen and harmonious energies will be absorbed by the body.

However, the greater incidence in the world of gemstones is that the tremendous possibilities that lie dormant within the heart of a gemstone are sacrificed for retaining a larger caratage, by fashioning it, without much thought on how the light could be made to play up its color and beauty!

Many people talk about Jyotish Gemstones and Jyotish Quality but fail at the very first parameter which is the cut. A Jyotish Gems has the perfect cut to maximize the play of light.

Reject all other samples which have a cut made just to save weight and sacrificing on brilliance and the play of light.

At Gemstoneuniverse, you can expect to find the best of lapidary work in colored gemstones too. And do remember, it is only when the cutter works his magic that the gem makes the Cut!

Our commitment to Planetary Gem Therapy is absolute and every single Gemstone that makes it to the Gemstoneuniverse inventory is a true Jyotish Gem.

Next time when you evaluate a Gem for Jyotish Quality the first thing you should look for is the cut!

To view this Gemstone before it was set please click here.

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