Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s2.39

c12.s2.39

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.’