History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t4.4

v1.c26.s3.t4.4

*Terms used for an oilpress* : Despite its lone use in the *Arthaśāstra*, all the evidence suggests that the word *ghana* moved from Prakrit into Sanskrit, when it next appears only in the *Ballalacarita* of 1510 AD (Bhaṭ, Ānanda). The words *ghranaka* appears once, and *ghanaka* several times, in inscriptions of the 5th century AD from Bengal (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1925/26, 18, 60), the 10th century AD from Gwalior (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1892, I, 162), and shortly thereafter in Nashik (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1927/28, 19, 69). A Veraval inscription from Gujarat of 1264 AD has *ghamcika* for oil miller (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1961/62, 34, 141). All these have a Prakrit connotation. The origin of the word *ghana* itself can only be guessed at by a number of associations. *Grāva* is the Sanskrit grinding stone, *ghavan* is a stone mortar in Marathi, *ghaṭāni* a mill in Gujarati (Turner, 1966, p. 241), and *ghaṭānika* is a Sanskrit word for a heavy club (pestle), used in the *Rāmāyaṇa* (Yuddhakāṇḍa, 6. 1053) and *Matsya Purāṇa* (177. 11). *Ghana* for the oil press may represent an amalgam of such usages.