Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c17.s3: C. Some Selected Gem Minerals

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c17.s3

Language
English

Contents

C. Some Selected Gem Minerals

v1.c17.s3.1

The gem categories of importance in the ancient world are listed in Table 4. The Sanskrit names confirm the ancient uses of the gem-minerals in India. Actually the etymological origin of many English names was Sankskritic e.g. ‘Kuruvinda’ gave rise to ‘Corundum’. Since many minerals acquired similar colours on account of impurities, hardness values, as listed in Table 4, were of great importance in identification. Coloured glasses were often used to imitate gems and therefore the ancient gemmologists checked hardness to distinguish between true and fake gems.

Gem Minerals Containing Beryllium

v1.c17.s3.t1.1

We would now discuss the family of gem minerals containing beryllium, variously coloured, specially green and blue, and having similar hardness. In terms of chemical composition, a sharp distinction has to be made between chrysoberyl (hardness 8 1/2) BeAl2O4, a mixed oxide, and beryl (hardness 7 3/4) Be3Al2Si6O18 a cyclo-silicate. The difference in their hardness could be easily tested using another gem, topaz having an intermediate hardness of eight. In absolutely pure form, both chrysoberyl and beryl are colourless. Their colours in the gem form arise on account of lattice substitutions by other elements as specified in Table 4.

v1.c17.s3.t1.2

Due to chromium and iron, chrysoberyl samples assume green and yellow colour respectively, the more usual green colour often merging into golden yellow. Milky white or greenish white cloudy chrysoberyl samples (not the clear and transparent ones) exhibit chatoyancy. Extending across the curved surface of such stones is a silvery line or streak of light, when viewed in a strong light. These samples are called chrysoberyl or oriental cat’s eye. The phenomenon of chatoyancy is due to the existence in immense numbers of microscopically small cavities arranged in a particular direction or a bundle of microscopic channels running parallel to a single direction. When viewed at right angles to this direction, a band of light is visible Table 4 — Gem Categories Of Importance In The Ancient World

v1.c17.s3.t1.3

| Name English/Sanskrit | Colour | Hardness (Moh's Scale) | Reasons for non-white colour |
| Diamond/*Vajra* | usually colourless | 10 | Blue due to boron, yellow/green due to nitrogen |
| Corundum/*Kuruvinda* | “ | 9 | Pure Al₂O₃ is colourless |
| Ruby *Padmarāga* | red | 9 | Cr³⁺ replaces Al³⁺. Transition involving ligand field effect |
| Sapphire *Indranīla* | blue | 9 | Four different mechanisms including charge transfer, combination of Fe and Ti |
| Non-blue Sapphire | | 9 | Orange |
| Chrysoberyl/Cat’s eye *Marjaraksaka/Lasunia* | Green/Yellow | 8¹/₂ | Green due to Cr and yellow due to Fe substituting in Be Al₂O₄ structure. |
| Spinel/Balas-ruby/ *Bālasūryaka* | rose-red | 8 | Pure spinel Mg Al₂O₄ is colourless. Cr³⁺ substitution makes it rose-red. Fe and Mg may further alter the colour. |
| Topaz/*Pusparāga* | Yellow | 8 | Pure topaz is colourless [Al (F,OH)]₂ SiO₄. Yellow colour is due to impurities - ferrous oxide lime and alkali. Dichromic also blue |
| Beryl/*Vaidūrya* | Faint green water colour | 7³/₄ | Pure beryl Be3 Al₂ Si₆O₁₈ is colourless. Faint green due to substituting Cr³⁺. This is allochromatic effect - transition involving ligand field. |
| Emerald/*Marakata Pānnā* | Deep grass green | 7³/₄ | This is beryl containing more Cr³⁺ imparting green colour. Dichroic, the second blueish colour is due to iron. |
| Aquamarine/*Pāribhadra* | Faint blue to bluish green | 7³/₄ | Bluish tinge due to iron |

v1.c17.s3.t1.4

| Name English/Sanskrit | Colour | Hardness (Moh's Scale) | Reasons for non-white colour |
| Zircon/*Gomed* | Cow-flesh colour | 7 1/2 | Pure zircon ZrSiO4 is colourless. Reddish-yellow colour of Hyacinth is due to Fe3+ decolourised on reduction to Fe2+ |
| Garnet/*Tāmrya* or *Tāmḍi* | Various colours | 7 1/4 | Family of minerals M2+3 M3+2. (SiO4)3 . Colour depends upon chemical composition. Hessonite is confused with Hyacinth. Colour due to iron. |
| Tourmaline/*Vaikrāntā* | Various colours | 7 1/4 | H9 Al3 (B.OH)2 Si4O19 pure tourmaline is light coloured. Fe2+ and Cr3+ make it dark green, Mg makes it brown and Mn dark red. |
| Quartz/*Sphaṭika* | Colourless | 7 | Pure SiO2 is colourless. Yellow citrine due to iron green chrysoprase due to nickel, violet amethyst due to manganese etc. |
| Agate/*Akik* | Light colour | 6 1/2 | Hydrated SiO2 is colourless Hydrated ferric oxide as impurity makes it brown or yellow. |
| Carnelian/*Rudhirakhya* | Red | | Heating causes dehydration and ferric oxide gives red colour to carnelian. |
| Olivine/Chrysolite/Peridot *Puttika/Jabarjad* | Bottle green | 6 1/2 | Pure Mg2SiO4 is colourless Replacement of part of MgO by ferrous oxide makes it yellowish green. Mn2+..N i2+ further change the colour. |
| Orthoclase/Feldspar Moonstone/*Candrakāntā* Sunstone/*Sūryakāntā* | Opalescent play of colour | 6 | Interference of light from thin layers. |
| Jade/*Pīlu* | White green black | 5 1/2 - 7 | Green due to Mn and Cr and Fe2+. Black due to Fe3+ |

v1.c17.s3.t1.5

| Name English/Sanskrit | Colour | Hardness (Moh's Scale) | Reasons for non-white colour |
| Turquoise | Blue | | The mineral is derivative for ortho- phosphoric acid, the hydrogen atoms replaced by radicals such as Al(OH)2 Fe(OH)2 (providing green tinge) and Cu(OH), providing intense blue colour. |
| Lapis Lazuli/Ultra-marine/ *Rajāvārtal Lajhward* | Deep azure blue | 5¹/₂ | The constituent minerals are Sodium-Calcium-Aluminium silicates with sulphate and polysulphide (S⁻3) anions. The 19 outer electrons of S⁻3 unit undergo transitions within the molecular orbitals. These produce absorption band in the yellow range and hence intense blue colour. Less sulphur in the mineral system gives green colour which makes the gem less worthy. |
| Pearl/*Mukta* | Usually white | 3-4 | Iron, manganese etc.possibly complexed with organic matter, so that the colour is perishable on heat. |
| Coral/*Pravāla/Vidruma* | red,black etc. | 3-4 | “ |

v1.c17.s3.t1.6

running across this bundle. The stone is usually cut along this direction so that maximum number of light-reflecting cavities are close to or on the surface, producing maximum chatoyancy. Quartz cat’s eye samples (hardness 7) show similar chatoyancy or a wave of milky light reflected from the surface, the effect in this case arising due to the presence of large number of fibres of asbestos aligned in a specific direction.

v1.c17.s3.t1.7

Beryl, *vaidūrya* in Sanskrit, has a hardness (7³/₄) different from those of chrysoberyl (8¹/₂) and quartz (7), and the modern literature does not indicate that chatoyancy is observed in any beryl sample. However, green chrysoberyl sometimes looks like green beryl, and since the former gem exhibits chatoyancy effect occasionally, the Indian word *vaidūrya* has in some instances been used (unfortunately) to indicate cat’s eye gem also. Buddhabhaṭṭa’s writing (Ratnaparīkṣā or RP 200) created this confusion for the first time.

v1.c17.s3.t1.8

Pāṇini referred to vaidūrya coming from Vidura. Later Patañjali, the commentator of Aṣṭādhyāyī, explained that the gem actually came from the Valavaya mountains, and was only processed in the town of Vidūra (which must have been located somewhere in South India). Centuries later, Buddhabhaṭṭa wrote about Kongavalikasimanta near the Vidūra mountain as the source of beryl or Vaidūrya (RP 199).

v1.c17.s3.t1.9

Sarma (1984: 68) opined that the etymological link between Vidura and vaidūrya was ‘a fiction invented by the grammarians’, but we do not agree with him, since Patañjali’s explanation and Buddhabhaṭṭa’s corroboration have been clear enough; Patañjali’s Valavaya (mountain) is similar to Buddhabhaṭṭa’s Valikā. It is well-known that Konga kingdom once governed the beryl mine of Coimbatore of the Salem district from which beryl gems were supplied to the Romans.

v1.c17.s3.t1.10

Alfred Master has suggested (1943-46) that the veluriya, the Pali word, was actually a Dravidian word preceding Pāṇini’s vaidūrya, and both were the adjectival forms of Velur (or modern Belur), which is in the heart of the beryl mines of Coimbatore. The 500 A.D. inscription of the Ganga king Durvinita mentions both Velur as well as the Punnata kingdom described by Ptolemy as ‘Punnata in which is the beryl’. Velur might have been known to Panini as Vidur (‘the far away city’) where the beryl gem from the nearby mountains were processed.

v1.c17.s3.t1.11

Thus, the identity of vaidūrya with beryl is well- established. It was known to be quite different from cat’s eye. Kauṭilya listed beryl vaidūrya and cat’s eye mārjārakṣaka as distinctly separate gem (AS2.11.30 and 39).

v1.c17.s3.t1.12

Kauṭilya never mentioned marakata (emerald, the darker green variety of vaidūrya or beryl) which used to be imported to India from Egypt probably after his era. In the post-Christian era, we find vaidūrya and marakata being mentioned together to mean the same family of green gem.

Vaidurya and Marakata

v1.c17.s3.t2.1

Kautilya was the first to describe the vaidūrya gem: “Beryl is of the colour of the blue lotus, of the śiriṣa flower, of the colour of water, green bamboo, parrot’s wing” (AS 2.11.30).

v1.c17.s3.t2.2

While describing beryl as many-hued, Buddhabhatta emphasized that its principal colours resembled the neck of the peacock and greenness of bamboo (RP 203).

v1.c17.s3.t2.3

The family of beryl is a cyclosilicate Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈ which crystallises in the hexagonal system, sometimes occurring as long six-sided prisms, terminated by a basal plane (vide Kalidāsa’s long grass-green ratnaśalākā). In pure from, beryl is colourless. Lattice substitution by a very small quantity of chromium (in the form of Cr³⁺) makes the crystal light grass-green (typical vaidūrya of the early Sanskrit literature). Larger proportion of chromium (typically 0.2 per cent or above) results in intense green colour: ‘beautiful and deep emerald green to grass-green, unrivalled in depth and brilliancy and comparable to the fresh green of a meadow in spring’ (Bauer, 1968: 308).

v1.c17.s3.t2.4

This variety is well-known as *emerald* or *marakata* which was not mentioned by Kautilya and the best samples were imported later to India probably from Ethiopia, Egypt, and during the Muslim period, from Turkey. Lattice substitution by iron to the extent of 0.5 to 2 per cent makes the crystal light blue, and such natural crystals have been known as aquamarine or *Pāribhadra*. Greenish blue *utpalavarṇa* in *AS* 2.11.30 and *indīvara śyamavapu utpala* in *Manimālā* (p.510) is likely to be aquamarine. Ancient India was famous for the light-green as well as light blue beryl/aquamarine, the best supplies originating from Paddur, Kangayam and several other sites in the Coimbatore district. Beryl is also known to occur in yellowish green and pure golden yellow colour. *Marakata* or emerald became popular in India only after Kauṭilya’s era. Probably, *marakata* or emerald was imported to India during the onset of the Christian era.

The Source and Etymology of Marakata

v1.c17.s3.t3.1

Though the occurrence of emerald in Ethiopia had been known to the ancients, the locality became completely forgotten. The earliest known emerald locality is in upper Egypt, not far from the coast of the Red Sea. The ancient mines discovered by Cailliaud in 1819 A.D. have been dated as early as 1650 B.C.; these are located in a depression of the long range of mountains which borders the west coast of the Red Sea. The mines are in Jebel (=Mountain) Sikait (also Sakketto, from Sanskrit Saikat?) and Jebel sabara (Zabara or Varvara in Sanskrit).

v1.c17.s3.t3.2

Pliny mentioned the rocks about Coptos, as containing the celebrated mines of the old. These mines, known as Cleopatra’s emerald mines, located a little south of latitude 25°N, were close to the sea-coast as well as the desert and known as such by the Indian traders (Bauer, 1968: 310-311).

v1.c17.s3.t3.3

The name *marakata* bears the imprint of *maru* (desert) and *kata* (from Pliny’s ‘Coptos’ or *saikata* meaning sea-coast or the mountain Sakketto?). In the justification of our hypothesis regarding the origin of word *marakata*, we may quote: Buddhabhatta (*Ratnaparīkṣā* 150) mentioning *marakata* mine (*ākara*) past the sea- coast (*tīradeśe*), mountain Varvara and near the desert (*maroḥ samīpe*). Agastimata (287) and *Ratnasaṃgraha* (13) provide similar topographical descriptions. The name *marakata* also resembles *marukātār* and it may not be unlikely that some emerald was marketed across the desert (*maru*) around the state of Qatar.

v1.c17.s3.t3.4

The *Mahābhārata* (12.46.33) has used another name for emerald, and that is *masāragalu*, *masāra* or *masāraka*. Monnier-Williams explains in his Sanskrit dictionary that Egypt was named as *Miśar* or *Misar* in Sanskrit, and *galu* means a gem. Therefore *masaragalu* may be interpreted as the gem from Egypt, and that is consistent with the etymological origin of *marakatā* as suggested, for the first time, by us. The 4th century A.D. Prakrt text *Aṅgavijjā* (58.20) mentions *veruliya*, *maragata* as well as *masārakalla*, meaning beryl and emerald.

v1.c17.s3.t3.5

Emerald has few more name - equivalents in Sanskrit: *Harinmaṇi* (green gem), *Garuḍodgāra*, *Gārutmata*, *Pānnā* etc. The last three may be briefly explained. *Ratnaparīkṣā* and *Agastimātā* narrated the myth or the folklore that gems had been derived from the body of the slain demon Bala: diamond from his bones, pearl from the teeth, ruby from the blood, sapphire from the eyes, emerald from the bile etc. The mythical bird Garuḍa had taken the green bile of the demon in its mouth and then vomitted it (hence the name Gārutmata and Garuḍodgāra) on a mountain on the sea- coast near a desert beyond Barbara country’. We have earlier referred to Buddhabhaṭṭa’s Sanskrit text (RP 150). Agastimata (285) mentioned Garuḍa as the king of the serpent-demon: ‘pānnāgādhipaḥ’. Pānnā also means something fallen down or dropped. Thus, the dropped bile of the serpent-demon or emerald also came to be known as pānnā. It is an open question whether the location of the famous diamond mine in Bundelkhand was named Pānnā because it also yielded some emerald or pānnā. It is quite possible that the place was named Pānnā to indicate emerald which resembles chrysoprase (nickel-containing compact quartz), widely occurring in the area, in greenness. The 100 ft deep old diamond mine at Majgoha (Majgama) south-west of Panna is now a cone- shaped depression filled with green mud. In this connection we also recall that Chanhu-daro showed light green beads and cups of fuchsite-quartzite which might have originated from Mysore. These all resemble beryl-like materials in their typical colour. The Sanskrit word marakata was the origin of smaragdos in Greek, smaragdus in Latin, esmeralda in Spanish and emerald in English.

Beryl and Emerald in Indian History

v1.c17.s3.t4.1

The popularity of green beryl or vaidūrya in ancient India is clearly revealed from the writings of Pāṇini, Kauṭilya and Patañjali. The Greek and Roman writers also attested to this fact. Rufus described king Saubhuti presenting ’his spectre made of gold and set with beryls’ to Alexander (McCrindle, 1896, 1969: 220). Several Buddhist relic caskets contained semi-precious stones, quartz crystal, carnelian and malachite bird and beryl reliquary (as in 2nd century B.C. site of Bhattiprolu, near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh). The Buddhist monks and nuns were asked not to use shoes ornamented with, and bowls set with vaidūrya or beryl which must have been popular luxury commodities during the pre-Christian era (Mahāvagga 5.8.3; Cullavagga, 5.9).

v1.c17.s3.t4.2

Pliny of the first century A.D. wrote in his Naturalis Historia (37.5) that beryl was seldom found outside India, and that the Indians had discovered how to make counterfeit gems, and specially beryl, by staining crystal. Marshall has corroborated this through his observations on the Taxilan samples. Solinus of the third century A.D. drew upon Pliny, and wrote: “The Indians rub down the beryl into hexagonal forms in order to impart vigour to the dull tameness of the colour by the reflection from the angles. Of the beryl the varieties are manifold”. The Greeks accompanying Alexander were surprised to note the Indians’ fascination for green beryl which possessed only light colour. The Greeks might have introduced the Egyptian emerald of brighter greenness to the Indians who continued to import the same as marakata during the post-Christian era of trade with the Romans.

v1.c17.s3.t4.3

The Ratnaśāstra texts are full of poetic descriptions related to light green beryl, intense green emerald and bluish ultramarine: ‘like the peacock’s tail, the wing of the nīla- kaṇṭha, parrot’s wing, moss, fresh grass, glow-worm’s back, the sirisa flower’ and so on (RP 152, 158-159; Garuḍapurāṇa, 1.71. 1- 29, Manimālā, 362-364 and 377-379). Skanda Purāṇa (23.135) categorised different kinds of beryl and emerald, and recorded the geographical locations of their mines.

v1.c17.s3.t4.4

*The Antiquity of Diamond Mining in India*

v1.c17.s3.t4.5

No C-14 dating of ancient diamond mine in India is available. Reviewing the position, Bauer (1968: 141) commented that the working of the most important diamond deposits known at present ‘do not date back to very remote periods, probably in all cases subsequent to the year 1000 A.D. and sometimes much later’. We disagree on the basis of literary records, but do not have specific C-14 dates or archaeological evidences to counter Bauer’s statement. Fig. 1 shows the diamond fields in India as drawn in 1896 (Bauer: 1968,144). Possibly several of these sites were known in the ancient period.

v1.c17.s3.t4.6

Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra of the late 4th century B.C. was probably the first text to describe the Indian diamond or vajra and the mode and area of its occurrence (2.11.37-41). The mine and stream deposits were listed as their sources.

v1.c17.s3.t4.7

It is hard to identify the precise locations of the place- names mentioned in Arthaśāstra, Bṛhatsaṃhitā, Ratnaparīkṣā, Agastimata etc. regarding the diamond fields but we may conjecture the following locations: eighty miles south-east of Nagpur on the Sath river, a tributary of Wainganga (Vena of the Bṛhatsaṃhitā), the present Wairagadh, anciently known as Vajragṛha, the Kośala region of Ākarāvantī around the famous Pānnā in Madhya Pradesh, the region around the Golconda mines formerly known as Matanga, the Kalinga mine of Hirā-Kund (literally means diamond mine), the alluvial sources from the Mahanadi in the Sambalpur district, the Koel river etc.

v1.c17.s3.t4.8

During the first century A.D., the precise source of the Indian diamonds was not known to the Roman traders, but later Ptolemy reported the diamonds coming from Sambalpur (Sabarae), the Sank branch of the Brahmani river, the Kośa or Kośala (panna) etc.

v1.c17.s3.t4.9

Diamond was used not only as gem but also as an abrasive. Gwinnett and Gorelick (1988: 187-193) have studied one of the seven rock crystal artifacts obtained from Arikamedu (dated not later than 300 A.D.) and proved that this ‘lapidary training piece’ was drilled with a twin diamond drill.

v1.c17.s3.t4.10

The drill holes were studied with a technique known as functional analysis, in which an impression of the hole was made using a silicone material. This model in effect turned the hole inside out. The impression was then coated with conductive gold and examined in an Amray 1000 Scanning Electron Microscope, and observations recorded on Polaroid film.

v1.c17.s3.t4.11

The details clearly revealed the use of diamond drills in processing hard rock crystal artifacts at Arikamedu.

v1.c17.s3.t4.12

Agate and carnelian were mined, processed and used even in the Pre-Harappan times. Yellowish varieties containing hydrated ferric oxide used to be dehydrated on heating and thus reddened to beautiful carnelian in an age-old practice. The best known deposits are found in the Rajpila hills at Ratanpur, on the lower Narmada river.

v1.c17.s3.t4.14

Ball (1881: 507-513) reported the Ratanpur mine shafts to be 4’ ft in diameter and about 30’ ft deep with galleries branching off on all sides.

v1.c17.s3.t4.15

Furthermore, Peyton (Paithan or Pratisthana) on the Godavari has been identified as Plithana of the Periplus (1st century A.D.) where agate and onyx used to be mined and sent to Broach for processing and export (Ball, 1881: 505).

v1.c17.s3.t4.16

We would now mention one non-gem mineral resource widely used in ancient India. The major source of sodium has been the riverine efflorescent alkaline *reh* deposits which ruin agriculture but aid industries. These natural deposits of *reh* salts, known as *khari* in Bihar, *kallar* in Punjab, *chavudu* in Andhra Pradesh, were used in the ancient times for making glass, providing glaze in the NBPW ware etc.

v1.c17.s3.t4.17

*Sāji māṭṭi* is the name of the crude mixtures of sodium salts lixiviated out of *reh* and concentrated, and sold for making soap, glass, detergents etc. Typical compositions of *reh*, *sāji māṭṭi* and salt lake bittern are given in Table 5.

v1.c17.s3.t4.18

Auden et al (1942) estimated that the *reh* - infested districts of Utter Pradesh alone produced 0.5 m ton Na₂CO₃, 0.6 m ton NaHCO₃ and 0.3 m ton Na₂SO₄. Similar data from other states have been compiled by Brown and Dey (1955).

v1.c17.s3.t4.19

Limited space does not permit us to discuss the huge variety of gem and non-gem minerals used in ancient India. Some idea regarding the enormity of the subject may be gleaned from the long list of post-Christian era Sanskritic words related to metals, gems and non-gem minerals (Biswas, A.K., 1991). We mention only a few non-gem minerals of commercial importance in ancient India: *adrija* (bitumen), *abhraka* (mica), *kajjali* (cinnabar), *karpūrarasa* (calomel), *kāṃksi* (alum), *kasisa* (green vitriol or ferrous sulphate), *kharpara* (zinc ore), *gandhaka* (sulphur), *gāndhāra* (red lead), *culikā lavaṇa* (sal ammoniac), *tankana* (borax), *tala* (orpiment), *tutthaka* (blue vitriol), *nilāñjana* (stibnite), *makaradhvaja* (mercuric sulphide), *manaḥśilā* (realgar) *mākṣika* (pyrite), *svarṇamākṣika* (chalcopyrite), *mṛddāraśṛṅga* (anglesite or litharge), *rasaka* (calamine), *rasakarpūra* (mercuric chloride), *rasasindura* (mercuric sulphide), *rasāñjana* (stibnite), *varāṭikā* (marine nodule), *vahnimṛttikā* (fire-clay), *vimalakā* (pyrite), *kāṃsya vimala* (arsenopyrite), *śilājatu* (bitumen), *sarjikā mṛttikā* (river-bed alkaline *reh*), *sasyaka* (blue vitriol), *sīsaja* (red lead), *suvarcikā* (borax), *srotāñjana* or *sohta* (carrollite), *haritāla* (orpiment, also löllingite?), *hiṅgula* (cinnabar) etc. ¹

v1.c17.s3.t4.20

Table 5 — Typical compositions of *reh*, *saji matti* and bittern (compiled from La Touche, 1912, Auden, 1942, and Brown and Dey, 1955)

v1.c17.s3.t4.21

| | Moradabad *reh* | Meerut *reh* | Kanpur *saji matti* | Sambhar bittern | Lonar Lake incrustation fractions |
| Na₂CO₃ | 9.66 | 4.68 | 27.02 | 14.5 | 8.2-33.2 |
| NaHCO₃ | 8.55 | 3.96 | 4.28 | 9.1 | 6.3-24.4 |
| NaCl | 1.92 | 3.88 | - | 28.6 | 28.0 (av.) |
| Na₂SO₄ | 8.66 | 1.19 | 33.98 | 40.5 | 2.0 (av.) |
| | | | | K₂O | 4.3-10.3 |

Linked texts (13)