[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.519 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.519 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.519 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.519](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.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. - [Previous: v1.c3.518](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.518) - [Next: v1.c3.520](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.520) - [Up: v1.c3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.519](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.519) · Pramāṇa