Pearl is an object produced within the Mantle of a shelled mollusk or mussels or other sea animals. It is produced by an excretion of the insect inside the shell onto an irritant to protect itself from that irritant. It is basically a calcium carbonate or calcite. Pearls are available in white, silver, grey, black, blue, pink, golden (cream white) and purple shades.
Other Names |
Moti, Mukta or Muthu Mani in Southern India |
Mineral Name |
Calcium Carbonate |
Chemical Composition |
CaCO3 |
Hardness on Moh's Scale of 10.0 |
2.5 to 4.5 |
Specific Gravity |
2.6 to 2.85 |
Refractive Index |
1.52 to 1.77 |
Popular Origins: Pearls are produced in Sea and it can practically be found from any sea or ocean across the world. However, some of the origins are famous in the global trade of Pearls. The most famous of them are Basra pearls. Basra is a region in the Kingdom of Bahrain that actually falls under Iraq. However, the pearl fisheries in Basra are still governed by the Kingdom of Bahrain. Natural real Basra Pearls are very rare nowadays. Apart from Basra, natural real pearls are found from the Indian Ocean near the Nicobar Islands, Australia, Venezuela & Persian Gulf. Culturing of Pearls because of a rarity in finding natural real pearls, started around 1960s. Pearl Culturing is a process of human intervention in producing pearls by inserting irritants (usually of large sizes) in the shell resulting in larger pearls as compared to the natural uncultured real pearls. Finest qualities of Sea Cultured pearls are found in South Sea area near China and Tahiti Islands (a French Island in the Pacific ocean). Tahitian pearls are famous because of their black to grayish black nacre which gives them the name 'Black Pearl'.

Popular names of Pearl: Basra Pearl, Keshi Pearl, Tahitian Pearl, Biwa Pearl, Burma Pearl, Black Pearl, South Sea Pearl.
Which is the Best Substitute For Pearl?
Freshwater Pearls & Moonstone are considered to be the best substitute for pearl gemstone. From an astrological point of view, a substitute gemstone takes more time to show their effect.
Astrological Significance (Who should wear Pearl): Pearl has the shine, brightness, and soothingness as the Moon. In Vedic astrology, Pearl is associated with the planet Moon (Chandra). People born in the Lagna of Moon i.e. Cancer (Kark) should wear a Pearl for a lifetime. Apart from this, people with Lagna Aries (Mesh), Scorpio (Vrishchik) and Pisces (Meen) signs can also wear Pearl gemstone.
Pearl Benefits:
- Pearl is considered to give a soothing effect to its wearer. It controls anger and provides mental stability.
- It can benefit the wearer with favor from mother & family. It is also worn for improving concentration, home environment & provides calmness.
- It can also cure hypertension & anxiety.
Best Weight (in Carat or Ratti): Pearl is a precious gemstone. Every gemstone, when worn for an astrological purpose, need to adapt to the body mass of the person. Therefore, it is considered good to wear the gemstone more than 1/12th Carat of the body weight of the person. For example, if a person weighs 60kgs, he/she should wear minimum 5 carat (5.5 Ratti) [60 / 12 = 5]. In case of low-quality pearls or cultured pearls, one should divide the body weight by 10, i.e. he/she should wear minimum 6 Carat [60 / 10 = 6].
Best Metal(s): Pearl should preferably be worn in Silver, Gold or Panchadhatu.
On which finger to wear: Pearl gemstone is considered to be most effective when worn in the little finger of active hand (For right-handed people, the active hand is right hand and vice-versa).
When to wear: Best time to wear pearl gemstone is during sunrise of a Monday between Ashtami tithi of Shukla Paksha ( the 8th day the Waxing moon period) and Ashtami tithi of Krishna Paksha (8th day of waning moon period).
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