An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c15.s1.7

v1.c15.s1.7

It would be clear from the foregoing account that the data for the study of Indian beads stretch over a vast span of time, i.e., from the 3rd millennium B.C. to about the 18th century A.D. However the data suffer from a few handicaps. For instance, the periodization of some of the excavated sites is not precise, and sometimes one Pd is assigned a span of about 500 years which is not helpful for any precise study. Secondly, in several cases the material is found to have been not properly identified. This handicaps the study of the history of the use of a particular material for bead-making. Moreover a comprehensive study of literary sources concerning the art and technique of bead-making as also the study of the idea implied behind the use of a particular material or a shape has not yet been made, with the result that coordination, supplementation and corroboration between the excavated data and literary data have not been attempted. Such a co-ordination is useful, for want of which serious lacunae have remained. For instance, the *Atharvaveda* refers to several types of beads and amulets and the Saṁhitā and Sūtra literatures refers to *maṇi-kāra* and different techniques of bead-making. So also the Buddhist and Jaina literatures which refer to various semiprecious stones and different types of necklaces of beads and pendants. The *Ratna-śāstra* literature of the medieval period is also full of information regarding precious and semiprecious stones.