History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c17.s3.t1.10

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.