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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c22.s2: The Beads at Taxila

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c22.s2

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The Beads at Taxila

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The beads recovered at Taxila number over 8500, twenty per cent of the number from the Bhir Mound, sixtyfive per cent from Sirkap and the rest from the Dharmarājika and other sites. The inhabitants of the Bhir Mound area preferred agate, carnelian, shell, bone, and glass — blue and green. In the later day Sirkap inhabitation (vide Table 14.2) we find continued uses of agate and carnelian, increased uses of imported garnet, jasper, lapis lazuli, malachite, turquoise, serpentine, marble and diversely coloured glasses as beads of different shapes — spherical, oblate, ovoid, barrel, hemispherical, scaraboid, disk, lenticular, cylindrical, cone, bicone, cube, angular, tabular, gadrooned, leech, pendants and miscellaneous types.

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Table 14.2

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Stratigraphical Table of Beads from Sirkap, Taxila

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(Not including the gold and silver specimens)

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| Material | Pre-Greek | Greek | Early Śaka | Śaka Parthian | Surface | Total |
| *Semi-precious stones :* | | | | | | |
| Agate | - | 1 | 10 | 111 | 3 | 125 |
| Amethyst | - | 1 | - | 10 | 1 | 12 |
| Aquamarine | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | 3 |
| Beryl | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Carnelian | 1 | 3 | 21 | 215 | 11 | 251 |
| Carnelian, etched | - | 1 | - | 8 | - | 9 |
| Chalcedony | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 5 |
| Garnet | - | - | 3 | 24 | 2 | 29 |
| Jasper | - | 2 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 26 |
| Lapis lazuli | - | 1 | 3 | 28 | 2 | 34 |
| Malachite | - | - | 7 | 40 | 2 | 49 |
| Onyx | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 3 |
| Quartz crystal, colourless | - | 1 | 2 | 46 | 2 | 51 |
| Quartz crystal, yellow | - | - | - | 4 | - | 4 |
| Quartz crystal, glazed | - | 1 | 2 | 39 | 1 | 43 |
| Quartz crystal, opaque | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Turquoise | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Blue serpentine | - | - | - | 5 | - | 5 |
| Red serpentine | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| | 1 | 12 | 55 | 561 | 27 | 656 |
| *Common stones :* | | | | | | |
| Granite | - | - | - | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Limestone, white | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Limestone, nummulitic | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3 |
| Marble | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Steatite (soapstone) | - | - | 2 | 7 | - | 9 |
| Shale | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 |

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| Nondescript | - | - | 2 | 11 | - | 13 |
| | - | - | 5 | 28 | 2 | 35 |
| *Metals (excepting gold and silver) :* | | | | | | |
| Copper | - | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| *Miscellaneous :* | | | | | | |
| Amber | - | - | - | 7 | - | 7 |
| Coral | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | 4 |
| Shell | 1 | 16 | 224 | 1,144 | 58 | 1,443 |
| Bone | - | - | - | 11 | 2 | 13 |
| Faience | - | 13 | 7 | 198 | 4 | 222 |
| Ebony | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Ebonite | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Jet | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| | 1 | 31 | 231 | 1,368 | 65 | 1,696 |
| *Glass :* | | | | | | |
| Amber | - | - | 2 | 56 | 1 | 59 |
| Black | - | 1 | - | 17 | 2 | 20 |
| Blue | - | 8 | 27 | 203 | 9 | 247 |
| Cobalt blue | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Pale blue | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Peacock blue | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Cream-coloured | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3 |
| Green | 1 | - | 10 | 336 | 5 | 352 |
| Grey | - | - | - | 68 | - | 68 |
| Orange opaque | - | - | - | 139 | - | 139 |
| Red | - | 1 | - | 5 | - | 6 |
| Violet | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| White opaque | - | - | - | 22 | 1 | 23 |
| Yellow | - | - | - | 4 | - | 4 |
| Yellow opaque | - | 6 | 182 | 1,437 | 45 | 1,670 |
| Blotched | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 3 |
| Multicoloured & colourless | 1 | 9 | 31 | 474 | 18 | 533 |
| | 2 | 25 | 255 | 2,769 | 81 | 3,132 |
| Terracotta | - | - | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| | | | | | | |
| Total | 4 | 69 | 549 | 4,734 | 178 | 5,534 |

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We have mentioned about etched carnelian beads in the chapters 4, 5 and 13. All the three varieties — (a) etched in white by sodium carbonate or other alkali solutions, (b) etched in black by copper or iron nitrate on the white background, or (c) on the natural colour — were found in Taxila, confirming the continuity of the tradition of etched beads in India. (Beck, 1933)

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Glazed quartz beads, found even in the Bhir Mound became more popular during the first century AD Śaka-Pārthian period. The process of glazing consisted in heating the bead with soda until the quartz fused and flowed as a glaze over the surface. Spectroscopic examination made by Beck showed that the surface of the beads, thus treated, contained a large quantity of soda, though the interior was free from it. Some reagent must have been used to provide pale blue colour to the beads. Natural quartz is more beautiful when polished than when glazed; therefore, the only purpose of glazing was to provide colour on the molten surface.

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Marshall's view (1975: chapter 37, p. 739) is “that the real purpose of glazing was to give the quartz the appearance of beryl or aquamarine, both of which were very rare and very much prized. Pale blue would give the quartz an appearance like that of beryl or aquamarine, and this no doubt is why one of these beads from Sirkap was cut to the shape of a hexagonal cylinder, which is the natural form of beryl”.

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Pliny (N.H., 37.20) wrote that the lapidaries cut all beryls to a hexagonal form, because the colour is heightened by the reflection from the angles. Apparently, he was unaware that the hexahedral was the natural form of beryl. Beryls came mainly from the Coimbatore district of Madras. Pliny also made a very significant statement: “The people of India, by colouring crystal, have found a method of imitating various precious stones, beryls in particular”.

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Intermediate in properties between glazed quartz and fused glass is faience, which is made by breaking up quartz into small grains, adding a small amount of lime, and fusing until the surface of the quartz has flowed and cemented the whole into a solid mass. The quality of the faience depends upon the fineness of the grains and the degree of fusing. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa produced some unusually fine-grained and hard faience, but most of the samples were coarser and more friable. This commoner variety was locally produced in Taxila for making beads during the later Śaka-Pārthian period. Compared to the Bhir Mound collection, the Sirkap collection showed much larger faience, glass and shell beads. Whereas in the former collection, the percentages of the beads made of semi-precious stone, glass and shell were 42, 32 and 14 respectively, the corresponding percentages in the later day Sirkap became 12, 50 and 26 respectively. The figures show the spurt of artificial gem industry, mentioned in the drama Mṛcchakaṭika.

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Table 14.3 present the chemical composition of glasses found in Taxila, Rājghāṭ and Kopia. It is seen that these were basically soda-lime glasses. In Taxila, CuO was added to make blue bangle (0.44%), green blue tile (0.2-0.6), and turquoise blue powder (3.6%); about 5.08 per cent and 2.42 per cent Sb₂O₃ were present in white opaque glass and turquoise blue powder respectively. A red opaque glass assayed 37.1 per cent SiO₂, 10.3 Na₂O. 6.5 CaO, 0.9 K₂O, 0.7 MgO, 3.2 Al₂O₃/Fe₂O₃, 0.1 MnO and colouring agents: 7.2 per cent Cu₂O and 34.9 per cent PbO. Blackness of some Indian glasses is due to iron and manganese oxide. Cu, Cu₂O and CuO are common ingredients in many coloured glasses of ancient India. Some of the other colour-producing oxides used in Indian glasses are: PbO (Taxila, Tripurī, Ter, Ahicchatra), SnO₂ (Kauśāmbi, Arikamedu), Sb₂O₃ (Taxila), BaO (Tripurī), P₂O₅ (Kauśāmbi, Ahicchatra, Arikamedu) etc.

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Śaka-Pārthian strata of Sirkap yielded a large number of minute disk beads of opaque-yellow and orange glass and also of favourite colours — blue and green, blue holding the premier place in the Bhir Mound and green in the Sirkap settlements. There were the favourite blue bangles, the green ones becoming rarer after the second century BC. Some glass vessels might have come to Taxila from inland Kopia in Uttar Pradesh or even from the Western Asia. Most beads, some bangles and simple glass objects were produced in Taxila itself.

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Table 14.3

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**Percentage Chemical Composition in Ancient Indian Glass** **from Taxila and other sites**

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| | Taxila | Rājghāṭ | Kopia |
| | 600-300 BC | 600-200 BC | 300 BC-AD 300 |
| SiO₂ | 53.8 - 71.0 | 64.7 - 70.1 | 62.2 - 70.3 |
| Na₂O | 12.9 - 23.5 | 5.3 - 17.5 | 19.3 - 21.7 |
| K₂O | 2.4 - 4.9 | 0.3 - 9.7 | — |
| CaO | 4.9 - 8.9 | 3.1 - 8.9 | 2.4 - 8.9 |
| MgO | 0.5 - 4.5 | 0.4 - 1.6 | 1.2 - 2.1 |
| Al₂O₃ | 1.5 - 5.7 | 2.3 - 9.9 | 4.9 - 8.5 |
| Fe₂O₃ | 0.8 - 8.5 | 1.3 - 7.2 | 0.2 - 3.0 |
| MnO | 0.01-0.17 | 0.02 | 0.03 - 0.1 |

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One house in Sirkap was found to have 5 lbs. of vermilion pigment assaying 85.1 per cent HgS, 12.4 per cent Fe₂O₃, 2.69 per cent SiO₂ and 0.24 per cent Al₂O₃.

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