History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c34.6

v1.c34.6

It is no less amazing to note the diversity of techniques applied in producing such a large variety of beads in ancient India. The beads are fashioned in cylindrical, globular, tubular, short barelled, rectangular, oval and semi-circular forms. Apart from the science of metallurgy, the people of Harappa and Mohenjodaro possessed a good knowledge of the use of various hard stones. It is somewhat difficult to imagine about the tools and technique employed to manufacture beads from such semi-precious stones, like the quartz and jadeite etc., which are harder than the steel. They probably practised the methods of rubbing and abrading the pebbles with particles and pieces of harder stones and bringing them to desired forms. Similarly, they might have used the drills and borers of quartz and other harder stones to carve out holes in the beads presenting lesser hardness. The technique of soldering the edges of two convex discs to produce double convex beads can also be noticed. At Harappa, the special type of beads were made by cementing two or more stones together. The steatite beads are sometime given special treatment of heating to whiten the surface. Such beads are termed as “burnt” steatite beads. There are painted steatite beads also. The fast colours were produced by applying mineral solutions and thereafter heating them under high temperature. The beads were also glazed and polished to present a glossy surface.