History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c26.s3.t4.5

v1.c26.s3.t4.5

The other term commonly used for an oil press is *kolhu*. This again appears to be a Prakrit word, and it occurs in a Gwalior inscription of 933 AD in the Sanskritised form *kolhuka* (*Epigraphica Indica*, 1892, I, 154). Again its origin may be a complex amalgam of *ulūkhalika* (meaning the act of grinding), *khali* (oilcake), and *ukhli* and *okhli* (small mortars) (Platt, 1899, p. 106). The Tamil term *cekku* for the oilpress is by way of the Pali *cakka* (for *cakra*), a word which also gave rise to the common present term *chakki* for any circular millstone or pulley. The term first occurs in Tamil in the *Nāladiyār* (374) and the *Nālayira Thivya Prabhandam* (Thiruvaimozhi-7, 1 and 5) of the 7th or 8th centuries AD. However a reference occurs in the slightly earlier *Purananuru* (Verse 50, lines 6-7) to the froth (*nurai*) on the surface of oil extracted from sesame seed. This is a striking characteristic of oil when it first appears in a press, and strongly suggests that the oil pres was in use.