Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c24.s1.t7: On Ivory
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c24.s1.t7
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On Ivory
v1.c24.s1.t7.1
The early civilizations of Babylon, Egypt and Persia obtained ivory from India and the African supply was never tapped until Ptolemy II. Even later, the African supply was hardly adequate to fulfil the Roman needs (during the times of Caius, Nero and Seneca) and the Indo-Roman trade always included ivory as an item of export from India. The Romans used ivory at first in temples, statues and later in furnitures of a wide variety.
v1.c24.s1.t7.2
The *Periplus* records that India used to export ivory through the ports of Barugaza, Limurikē and Dēsarēnē (in Orissa). The elephant population was of course in the hinterlands of Gujarat, South India and Orissa.
v1.c24.s1.t7.3
Schoff recorded (1912: 193) how the Sanskrit word ibha (elephant) and ibha-danta (elephant’s teeth) were converted to abu in Egyptian, Semitic article el prefixing ibha-danta to give elephas in Greek, and the English words ‘elephant’ and ‘ivory’. The primacy of India in the commercial usage of ivory is thus established.
v1.c24.s1.t7.4
The Periplus further records (chapter 63) that near the estuary of the Ganges “there is an island called Khrusē, which has the best tortoise-shell of all places in the Erythraean Sea”; this was an important commodity of export to the Roman empire. Seneca criticised the prevailing luxury of Roman men and women and the use of costly tortoise-shell. Just as pearls were adored by the Romans, the Indians liked red corals from the Mediterranean Sea which used to be imported to India by the Romans. Conch-shells, or chank-shells were exported at Marallo (Mantotte?) during the sixth century AD. Even earlier, the artistic products made by the chank-cutters in Korkai and Kaviripaddinam found their ways to the West.
v1.c24.s1.t7.5
Lac or shellac (from lac-insect Tachardia Lacca) used to be exported from India since the time of Ctesias, when the Persian kings preferred to have their fabrics dyed with lac dye. The Romans probably obtained the dye separately. Indian Sandyx, a kind of vermilion-red was probably a mixture of lac dye, ruddle and red sulphide of arsenic coming from Persia and Carmania. The author of the Periplus states that lac-dye was exported from Ariace to the West via East African coast. Shellac as a whole seems to have been used in the form of deep-hollowed dishes, covering wooden platters etc. in Rome during the beginning of the second century AD. (Warmington, 1928, 1974: 178-79)
v1.c24.s1.t7.6
We have discussed only those materials of organic origin which have mineral-like properties (such as lustre, colour, hardness): amber, pearl, ivory, tortoise-shell, conch-shell, lac etc. Warmington has discussed a much larger number of animal-products and plant products (silk, gum-resin, spices, medicinal plants etc.) which are not mineral-like and hence fall outside of our purview. Of course these also constituted important features in the Indo-Roman trade.