Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.519

v1.c3.519

Ayas.—The exact metal denoted by this word when used by itself, as always in the Rigveda,¹ is uncertain. As favouring the sense of ‘bronze’ rather than that of ‘iron’ may perhaps be cited with Zimmer² the fact that Agni is called *ayo-damṣṭra*, ‘with teeth of Ayas,’³ with reference to the colour of his flames, and that the car-seat of Mitra and Varuṇa is called *ayaḥ-sthūṇa*,⁴ ‘with pillars of Ayas’ at the setting of the sun.⁵ Moreover, in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā,⁶ Ayas is enumerated in a list of six metals: gold (*hiraṇya*), Ayas, Śyāma, Loha, lead (*sīsa*), tin (*trapu*). Here *śyāma* (‘swarthy’) and *loha* (‘red’) must mean ‘iron’ and ‘copper’ respectively; *ayas* would therefore seem to mean ‘bronze.’ In many passages in the Atharvaveda⁷ and other books, the Ayas is divided into two species—the śyāma (‘iron’) and the lohita (‘copper’ or ‘bronze’). In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁸ a distinction is drawn between Ayas and lohāyasa, which may either be a distinction between iron and copper as understood by Eggeling,⁹ or between copper and bronze as held by Schrader.¹⁰ In one passage of the Atharvaveda,¹¹ the sense of iron seems certain. Possibly, too, the arrow of the Rigveda,¹² which had a tip of Ayas (yasyā ayo mukham), was pointed with iron. Copper, however, is conceivable, and bronze quite likely.