History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s4.11

v1.c13.s4.11

The starting material for this industry was a rod of gold or silver about 10 mm in diameter and 100 to 200 mm in length. This was first cold worked to produce a thinner section having 3 to 5 mm diameter and then it was annealed and converted into fine wire by drawing through a sequence of die holes having smaller and smaller diameter. The process was accompanied by intermittent annealing in a slow heat produced by burning cow dung cakes. The final thin wire was flattened by rolling it between a set of highly polished rolls (50 to 100 mm diam.) having mirror like surface finish. As the thin wire was flattened by these rolls the shining surface finish was transferred to the Gold and Silver strip which was finally wound around cotton or silk thread. A large collection of ancient jari craft and the fine pieces of ‘Brocade’, woven and embroidered silk pieces are being preserved in Bharat Kala Bhawan Museum of Banaras Hindu University and in other National Museums.