Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c9: 1. Introduction
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c9
- Language
- English
1. Introduction
v1.c9.1
THE present study deals with the production and use of minerals and metals in ancient India. The ‘ancient’ period provisionally ends in AD 1200, and ‘India’ covers the sub-continent including the present Pakistan and Bangladesh; occasionally references would be made to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tibet also.
v1.c9.2
The monograph is divided into two volumes. Volume I is devoted to archaeomaterials, special emphasis being paid to the scientific aspects of mining, minerals, gems and production of metals, alloys and various artefacts. Volume II, deals with the literary evidences specially those available in the Sanskrit texts. In both the volumes a chronological approach has been undertaken.
v1.c9.3
The Pre-Harappan chalcolithic sites of Mehrgarh, Mundigak, Ganeshwar, etc. are discussed in chapter 2. The evidences there clearly show that the copper-making tradition was indigenously developed in India. The Harappan civilization showed an astounding variety of raw materials and finished products with sharp distinctions in different sites such as Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Chanhu-Daro, Lothal, etc. (divided in chapters 3-6).
v1.c9.4
Harappa, having a large number of furnaces, was probably a manufacturing centre whereas Mohenjo-Daro, a capital city, showed wider varieties of materials. Chanhu-Daro specialised in making beads, seals and standard weights. Lothal was both a Harappan port as well as a mammoth factory-site having an exclusive coppersmiths’ quarter. In chapter 7 we shall discuss the copper-smelting practises in the Post-Harappan site of Ahar in Rajasthan.
v1.c9.5
Three successive chalcolithic cultures—Kayatha, Malwa and Jorwe—of the Peninsular India (2000-900 BC) are reviewed in chapter 8. These cultures bridged the gap between the Harappan and the PGW culture of the Historical Period. The Copper Hoards Culture in the Eastern India (chapter 9) was another phenomenon filling a part of the gap between the Harappan and the PGW eras. Both in the south and in the east, the chalcolithic cultures developed iron-smelting traditions indigenously.
v1.c9.6
The entire copper-making tradition and culture in the sub-continent during the ancient period are reviewed and summarised in chapter 10. The complex issue of the artefact-ore correlation shall be discussed in detail.
v1.c9.7
Atrañjikhera archaeology (chapter 11) covers the period of nearly fifteen centuries before Christ starting from the OCP culture, through B & RW and PGW eras, to the flourishing NBPW culture. In the earlier stage, the link with chalcolithic culture of Ahar is evident. The twelfth century PGW stratum of Atrañjikhera exhibits one of the earliest uses of iron in India. This site also exhibits the uses of copper alloys (including brass), agate, carnelian, sajji maṭṭi for the NBPW, etc.
v1.c9.8
The diffusionist theory of the iron technology being brought into India from outside by the ‘invading Aryans’ are discussed in chapter 12 and rejected. There are enough evidences that by 1200 BC the Iron Age had started indigenously in at least three nuclear zones of the sub-continent — around Atrañjikhera in the north, Karnataka in the south and in the Bengal-Bihar area in the north-east. The various features of the early Indian practises such as solid-state reduction, carburization, lamination, forge-welding, quench-hardening, etc. and the various iron tool types used in different nuclear zones are presented in chapter 12.
v1.c9.9
The Hastināpura archaeological evidence (chapter 13) shows that the material splendour described in the epic Mahābhārata could not correspond to 1200 BC Hastināpura. Further discussion in chapter 6 of Volume II shows that the epic was expanded in several stages, the material grandeur described in the epic corresponding to the later Historical Period.
v1.c9.10
The archaeological findings from the pre-Maurya, Maurya, Greek, Parthian, Scythian and Kuṣāṇa layers at Taxila (chapter 14) corroborate many aspects of the written history of India. These display the glory of ‘second urbanisation’ in India after the Harappan era. Amongst the diverse alloys of copper found in Taxila, most noteworthy is the brass vase assaying 34.34 per cent zinc which proves the earliest use of zinc as a separate metal in the ancient world. Equally noteworthy are the uses in Taxila of high-carbon steel, stone objects, beads and ornaments of noble metals, gems (like beryl), glass etc.
v1.c9.11
India’s trade in minerals and metals with the outside world up to the Maurya Period (chapter 15) is attested firstly by the circumstantial evidences such as
v1.c9.12
seals and finished goods of particular design and then by the accounts of the Greek writers, some of whom had visited India. In the following chapter the Indo-Roman trade on minerals and metals during the early Christian era has been reviewed critically. A special feature of this chapter is clarification of the confusions surrounding the nomenclatures of minerals and gems in the ancient world; this particular topic is further discussed in the chapter 7 on *Ratnaśāstra* in Volume II.
v1.c9.13
The knowledge of mining archaeology in India (chapter 17) remains in a rudimentary stage. In this chapter we have compiled some 34 principal C-14 dates for ancient Indian mines starting from 1260 BC Rajpura-Dariba in Rajasthan; however a very large number of ancient mines have remained undated. The antiquity of sub-surface mining for copper, lead, silver and zinc ores in north India, and of gold in the south has been well-established.
v1.c9.14
In chapter 18 we highlight the recent discoveries pertaining to the primacy of ancient India in the field of zinc and brass metallurgy. India was the first to make and use distilled zinc some time during fourth century BC. Brass icons were made continuously across twenty-three centuries. Hegde, Craddock, Willies, etc. and our team at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have done considerable work on zinc slag and the thirteenth century commercial process at Zawar Mines. There was a technology transfer of the zinc distillation practices from Zawar, India to Bristol, England some time during the early part of the eighteenth century.
v1.c9.15
Chapter 19 deals with the later part of the Indian Iron Age during the Christian era. Wootz was the famous Indian product of carburised iron, produced in crucibles, and from which steel swords were made. Literary evidences suggest that Indian steel used to be made in the second century AD, if not earlier.
v1.c9.16
The world-famous Delhi iron pillar is a marvel of ancient India showing the largest forge-welded object of the era. Both the dry weather of Delhi and the special composition have contributed to the remarkable rustlessness of the pillar. Many scientific details of the Delhi pillar, other iron pillars in India and the ancient Orissa beams are presented in this chapter. The pre-modern tribal iron metallurgy in India is probably a remnant of the earlier traditions of ancient metallurgy in the sub-continent.
v1.c9.17
India produced a huge variety of art objects for which diverse raw materials were used (chapter 20). Many kinds of rocks and stones, limes and plasters, pigments for painting etc. were used since the pre-Christian era. The Buddhist relic caskets faithfully display the contemporary art objects made of steatite, rock crystal, beryl, gold, etc. Metallic icons—Buddhistic, Jaina and Brāhmaṇical — constitute a great treasure of ancient Indian Art. Surveying the traditions of Gujarat, Nālandā, Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet and South India in icon-making, we have presented some of the scientific data in this chapter. In India there were distinct trends of alloy-making using different proportions of copper, tin, zinc, lead, gold (different kinds of gilding procedure), etc. The uses of sophisticated instruments and techniques are adding new dimensions to the scientific knowledge of the ancient Indian art objects.
v1.c9.18
The trend of scientific analysis unravelling the mysteries of the archaeo-materials of ancient India is bound to continue and escalate (chapter 21). However these analytical data must be handled and interpreted with caution by the historians and archaeologists in the light of their own findings and other evidences such as the literary (extensively discussed in the ten chapters of Volume II).
v1.c9.19
The investigations on the past of our material culture have not only bright future but are also likely to be instructive towards the future planning of science in India.