Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2.20

c12.s2.20

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.