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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2: Industry

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2

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Industry

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The enormous advance of Indian industries which has just been postulated for the Nanda and Maurya times was rendered possible by the abundance of India's agricultural and mineral resources to which the Greek writers allude with evident admiration. 'India,' says Diodorus (ii. 35-7) quoting from Megasthenes, 'has many huge mountains which abound in fruit trees of every kind and many vast plains of great fertility—more or less beautiful, but all alike intersected by a multitude of rivers .... And while the soil bears on its surface all kinds of fruits, it has also underground numerous veins of all sorts of metals, for it contains much gold and silver and copper and iron in no small quantity and even tin and other metals.....India again possesses many rivers both large and navigable¹. A no less important factor of economic progress noted likewise by the observant Greeks was the extraordinary skill of the Indian craftsman which has been his heritage down to our own times. Thus, to continue the quotation from Diodorus given above, ‘The inhabitants are found to be well skilled in the arts.’ Concrete instances of the skill of the Indian craftsmen are found in the *Geography* of Strabo (xv. 1.67) from information supplied by Nearchus².

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¹ According to the above account, gold, silver, copper and iron to a large extent along with tin and other metals to a much less degree were mined from India itself. Among the five sources of gold and five of silver specified in the *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 13), however, Gauḍa alone can be definitely identified as belonging to India.

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² Thus we are told that Indian craftsmen, seeing sponges used for the first time by the Macedonians, immediately manufactured imitations of them with fine thread and wool. They also quickly learnt to make Greek articles such as the scrapers and oil flasks used by the athletes.

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One of the oldest Indian industries is that of textile manufacture. The technical terms for warp (*tantu*) and woof (*otu*) are found in the *Ṛgveda* and *Atharva-veda*, while the shuttle (*tasara*) and the loom (*veman*) are mentioned in the *Yajus- saṃhitā* and other texts³. Among the textile industries, that of cotton manufacture held the first place. It found an excellent market at home in the habits of the people whose immemorial dress consisting of a pair of cotton garments is referred to alike in the early Buddhist texts and in the writings of the Greek observers⁴. No wonder then that among the presents offered by the Mālavas and their allies to the victorious Alexander was included a large quantity of cotton cloth. While the cotton industry evidently was spread over the whole land, certain centres had early become famous for the excellence of their fabrics. The early Buddhist texts speak with high praise of Benares cloth (*Kāsikuttama* or *Kāsika-vattha*) as well as the cloth of the Sivi country (*Siveyyaka* or *Siveyyaka*)⁵. We have a fuller list in Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 11) where Madhurā (capital of the Pāṇḍya country), Aparānta (Konkan on the western coast), Kāśi, Vaṅga, Vatsa (Kauśāmbi region), and Mahiṣa are said to produce the best cotton fabrics (kārpāsika). In the same context, the Arthaśāstra specifically mentions three varieties of dukūla (an unidentified species of fibrous fabric) distinguished by their place of origin and their colour. These were the products of Vaṅga (East Bengal), Puṇḍra (North Bengal) and Suvarṇakuḍya (in Kāmarūpa). They were respectively white, dark and coloured like the rising sun. In the same connection, the Arthaśāstra mentions linen fabrics (kshauma) of Kāśi as well as Puṇḍra. Kauṭilya also refers to the fabrics produced in Magadha, Puṇḍra and Suvarṇakuḍya. Linen fabrics (khoma) are also referred to in the early Buddhist literature¹.

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³ See *Vedic Index*, *s.v.*

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⁴ See P. T. S. *Dictionary*, *s. v.* *kappāsa*, and Arrian’s *Indica*, ch. xvi.

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⁵ Cf. *Aṅguttara Nikāya* i. 248 : *Vinaya Piṭaka* i. 278, 280 : *Jātakas* iv. 401 : vi. 51 etc.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s. v. khoma.

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It will be noticed from the above that Bengal, Kāmarūpa and Benares were the regions noted thus early as centres of the textile industry. The technical perfection of the industry is well illustrated by the fact that the Arthaśāstra distinguishes varieties of dukūla and kshauma according to their colour and process of manufacture, while those of patrorṇā are distinguished according to their material and colour.

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Coming to costlier textiles, we find references to silk cloth (koseya and koseyya-pāvāra) in the Pāli canonical works and the Jātakas². Kauṭilya (ii. 11) also mentions kauśeya along with chīna-paṭṭa chīna-bhūmija (Chinese fabric of Chinese manufacture). This last passage points to the fact that silks of Chinese origin competed at this time with the home-made product.

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² Ibid., s.v.

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On the other hand, the manufacture of wool was an old and indigenous industry. The fame of the fine wool of Gandhāri goes back to the Ṛgveda which also knows a woollen garment called śamulya³. The woollen fabrics of Gandhāra along with those of Koṭumbara or Koḍumbara—a region connected by Jean Przyluski⁴ with the Audumbaras of the Punjab—are mentioned with high praise in the Jātakas⁵. Kauṭilya, while silent about Gandhāra, mentions by name (ii. 11) the woollen goods of Nepal called bhiṅgisī or apasāraka. These are said to be formed of eight pieces, dark in colour and rain-proof. What advance the manufacture of this material had attained during the period of the *Arthaśāstra* is proved by the fact that Kauṭilya specifies three varieties of fabrics of sheep's wool distinguished by colour, four varieties distinguished by their manufacturing process, and no less than ten varieties distinguished by their use for human beings and for animals. The qualities of the best wool are carefully noted by the author in the same connection. The *Arthaśāstra* also distinguishes in the same context six kinds of fabrics manufactured from the hair of wild animals, and differing in their uses and qualities.

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³ See Vedic Index, s.v., for references.

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⁴ Un ancien people de Punjab ; Les Udumbara in J. As., 1926, pp. 25-36.

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⁵ See Jat. vi. 500.

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Before closing the subject of textile manufacture, we may mention a few of its finer forms known at that period. The use of embroidered cloth (*pesas*) is as old as the *Ṛgveda*, its manufacture according to a *Yajus Saṃhitā* text being normally carried on by women¹. The *Jātakas* refer to golden turbans used by kings and golden trappings for the use of State elephants². In the times of the Nandas and the Mauryas, gold-embroidered garments were worn by Indians evidently of the richer class. This is borne out by the testimony of Strabo, who says (xv. 1.54). 'They (the Indians) wear apparel embroidered with gold and use ornaments set with precious stones and gay-coloured linen garments'³. These gorgeous dresses were specially displayed during festive occasions. Describing the festive processions of the Indians, Strabo (xv. 1. 69) mentions not only the train of elephants adorned with gold and silver, but also the attendants wearing 'garments embroidered and inter-woven with gold.' Curtius, again, in the course of his description of the Indian king's public appearance, says that the king is 'robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold.'

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¹ See *Vedic Index*, s.v. *pesas*.

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² *Jāt.* iv 404 : v. 322.

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³ Somewhat different is McCrindle's translation which is as follows ; (*Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian*, Calcutta ed., p. 69) :- 'Their robes are worked in gold and ornamented with precious stones and they wear also flowered garments made of the finest muslin.'

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Wood-work is a very old Indian industry. Reference to the carpenter (*takṣan* or *taṣṭṛ*) and his tools may be traced back to the *Ṛgveda*⁴. The art of the carpenter had attained a high skill by the time of the Pāli canonical and other texts. There we find the *vaḍḍhaki* engaged in all kinds of wood-work including ship-building, the making of carts and chariots, the manufacture of machines and house-building¹. To the absolute perfection of the craft in Maurya times we have a surviving testimony in the shape of the mysterious wooden platforms that have been recently dug up in the vicinity of Patna². The excellent sculpture of Aśoka's time is admittedly modelled upon the much older art of the indigenous craftsmen in wood and ivory.

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⁴ See *Vedic Index*, s.v.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s.v. *vaḍḍhaki*. : also cf. *Jāt.* ii. 18 (for house-building) : v. 159 : vi. 427 (for ship-building) : iv. 207 (for carts and chariots) : v. 242 (for machines).

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² *Ann. Rep. Arch. Surv. Ind.*, 1912-13, pp. 53 ff.

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Reference has just been made to the Indian ivory-worker. The Indians have excelled in ivory-work from early times down to the present. Specially, in the *Jātakas* we are introduced to various ornamental and useful articles prepared from this costly material³. The use of ivory ear-rings is noted by Arrian (*Indica* xvi) as a characteristic of very wealthy Indians.

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³ See P. T. S Dict., s.v. *danta* cf. *Jāt.* v. 302 (for ivory handle of a glass mirror) : vi. 223 (for an ivory chariot).

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Another industry in which Indians have distinguished themselves in ancient and mediaeval as in modern times is stone-cutting. In the *Jātakas* the stone-cutter (*pāsāṇa-koṭṭaka*) is found engaged in building houses with the materials of a ruined village, in hollowing a cavity in a block of the purest crystal and so forth⁴. The wonderful stone pillars of Aśoka's reign are standing examples of the unsurpassed skill of the stone-cutters of the age. 'The art of polishing hard stone,' as Vincent Smith observes⁵, 'was carried to such perfection that it is said to have become a lost art beyond modern powers.' The 'Mauryan polish' is seen at its best in the walls of the Barabar caves of the hardest gneiss rock, which are burnished like glass mirrors.

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⁴ *Jāt.*, I, 470.

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⁵ *Oxford History of India*, Part I, 2nd ed., p. 113.

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The use of deer and goat skins for clothing is as old as the *Ṛigveda*⁶. The leather-worker and his handiwork of various kinds are referred to in the early Buddhist literature⁷. Kauṭilya's *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 11) shows knowledge of a wide variety of skins (*charma*) distinguished by their place of origin as well as colour and size. It is interesting to observe that the principal varieties are said to be products of various Himalayan regions. In the description of the Indian dress by Arrian (*Indica* xvi), to which we have referred above, we have an incidental allusion to the skill of the Indian leather-worker. ‘The Indians,’ we are told, ‘wear shoes made of white leather and these are elaborately trimmed, while the soles are variegated.’

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⁶ See *Vedic Index*, s.v. *ajina*.

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⁷ See P. T S Dict., s.v. *upāhānā* and *chamma* : cf. also *Jāt.* ii. 153 (for traps of leather) : iii. 79 (for single soled shoes) : iii. 116 and vi. 431 (for leather sacks) : vi. 454 (for leather shield). etc.

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India has always been famous for its trees producing fragrant wood. Several varieties such as *chandana*, *agalu* and *tagara* are mentioned in the Pāli canonical texts and the *Jātakas*¹. Kauṭilya (ii. 11) mentions five kinds of fragrant wood, *viz.*, *chandana*, *aguru*, *taila-parṇika*, *bhadraśrī*, and *kāleyaka*. These are further distinguished according to their place of origin, colour, fragrance and so forth. To judge from the commentator’s identification, many of these varieties came from Kāmarūpa, while other kinds came from Ceylon, the Himalayan region and the like.

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¹ See P. T. S. Dict., s.v.

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The use of metals may be traced back to the Indus people of pre-historic times. The Vedic Indians were acquainted with a large variety of metals, *viz.* gold (*chandra*, *jātarūpa*, *hiraṇya*, *suvarṇa*, *harita*), silver (*rajata*), iron (*kṛṣṇāyasa*, *śyāma*), copper (*lohitāyasa*, *loha*), lead (*sīsa*) and tin (*trapu*). Mention is also made of gold and silver ornaments as well as ordinary metalware². The *Jātakas* refer not only to numerous metals including brass and bronze, but also to the manufacture of ornaments from precious metals and that of domestic and agricultural implements from baser ones³. Kauṭilya (ii. 12) specifies the characteristics of various metallic ores including gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron and *vaikṛntaka* (unidentified). What is more, he refers to technical sciences dealing with veins of ore and metals, to the art of smelting metals and so forth⁴. In this connection, reference is made to the manufacture of copper, lead, tin, bronze, brass, iron and other wares. In the following chapters (ii. 13 and 14), Kauṭilya deals with the characteristic qualities of several varieties of gold and silver together with the methods of their testing and purification, as well as the technical processes of their manufacture. These striking references may be taken effectually to dispose of the strange verdict of a Greek writer who, while describing the richness of the country in gold and silver mines, observes: ‘Nevertheless the Indians, inexperienced in the art of mining and smelting, do not even know their own resources, but set about their business in too primitive a way¹.’

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² See *Vedic Index*, s.v., and *ibid*, English index, s.v. *metals and ornaments* for references.

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³ See *Jāt.* i. 351 : iv. 60, 85, 296 etc.

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⁴ *Sulba-dhātulāstra-rasa-pāka-maṇirāga* in the original, rendered as above by Meyer. The translation of Shamasastry is inaccurate.

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¹ Strabo xv. 1.31.

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As regards the period of the Nandas and the Mauryas, we have positive evidence testifying to the skill of the Indian metal worker. From this standpoint the bare observation of Diodorus (ii. 36) based no doubt on Megasthenes, *viz.* that the Indians employed their rich store of metals in manufacturing articles of use and ornaments is not of much moment. More significant is the fact that among the presents offered to Alexander by the Mālavas and their allies were included a hundred talents of ‘white iron’ (*ferrum candidum*). This has been generally taken to mean steel, although Cunningham² identified it with nickel. Of the copper work of the Maurya times, an excellent specimen has survived in the shape of a solid copper bolt which was found in the Aśokan pillar at Rampurva and was evidently used for fixing the colossal lion-capital to the pillar itself³. The Greek contemporary accounts also testify to the precious metal-work used in the royal court. In Strabo’s description (xv. 1.69) of the Indian festive processions to which we have referred above, we read how the great host of royal attendants carried ‘vessels of gold such as large basins and goblets six feet in breadth,’ as well as ‘drinking cups and lavers all made of Indian copper and set many of them with precious stones,—emeralds, beryls, and Indian garnets.’ Similarly Curtius, in describing the king’s public appearance, states how the royal attendants ‘carry in their hands silver censers’, while the king himself ‘lolls in a golden palanquin furnished with pearls which dangle all around it.’

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² Num. Chron., xiii (1873), pp. 188 ff.

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³ For a description of the copper-bolt with an accompanying photograph, see Panchanan Neogi, *Copper in Ancient India*. pp. 18-20.

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The use of jewellery may be traced back to the Indus peoples of prehistoric times. The profession of a jeweller (*maṇikāra*) is referred to in the *Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā* and the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa*¹. Coming to post-Vedic times, we find the *Jātakas* referring to pearls, crystals and jewels as well as the art of cutting and polishing gems for ornaments². Kauṭilya (ii. 11) shows acquaintance with pearls (*muktika*), jewels (*maṇi*), diamonds (*vajra*) and corals (*pravāla*) of Indian as well as foreign origin. What is more, he carefully notes the characteristics of good and bad pearls as well as the different colours and qualities of rubies, beryls, sapphires, crystals, diamonds and corals. The skill of the manufacturing jeweller is indicated by the fact that Kauṭilya mentions no less that five varieties of pearl necklaces (*yaṣṭi*) which are sub-divided into other classes. In a postscript, he adds that the same varieties apply to the ornaments for the head, arms, feet and waist. Coming definitely to the Nanda-Maurya times we find that the Indian love of ornaments is pointedly referred to by a Greek writer³.

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¹ See *Vedic Index*. s.v.

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² Cf. *Jāt.* i. 351, 479 : ii. 6 : iv. 60, 85, 296 : vi. 117-20, 279.

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³ See Strabo xv, 1.

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We have not space enough to describe the other industries to which the *Jātakas* and other records of this period bear witness, such as the manufacture of dyes, gums, drugs and perfumes, as well as that of pottery. But a word may be said about the manufacture of implements and weapons of war. Offensive and defensive weapons like the bow and the arrow, the sword and the spear, the helmet and the coat of mail are known from Vedic times⁴. Later in the *Arthaśāstra* (ii. 18), we find mention of bows and arrows made of different materials along with different kinds of swords, axes, spears and the like. The *Arthaśāstra* also refers to two classes of war machines, viz. immovable (*sthitayantrāṇi*) and movable (*chala-yantrāṇi*), the first consisting of ten and the second of seventeen named varieties. The Greek accounts relating specifically to the Nanda-Maurya times bear out these observations. According to Arrian (*Indica* xvi), the Indian foot-soldiers were armed with bows and javelins as well as broad-bladed swords, while the horsemen carried two lances. In the list of presents offered by the Mālavas and their allies to Alexander were included 1050 (or, according to another account, 500) four-horsed chariots and 1000 bucklers.

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⁴ See *Vedic Index*, English index, s.v. war for references.

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