Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c38.s3: The Meaning of Ayas

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c38.s3

Language: English

The Meaning of Ayas

v2.c38.s3.1

The sūkta 9.112.2 has been referred to earlier. The full text reads:

v2.c38.s3.2

जरतीभिः ओषधीभिः पर्णेभिः शकुनानाम्
कार्मारी अश्मभिः द्युभिः हिरण्यवन्तम् इच्छति
jaratībhiḥ oṣadhībhiḥ parṇebhiḥ śakunānām
kārmāro aśmabhiḥ dyubhiḥ hiraṇyavantam icchati
(9.112.2)

Mehta et al. (1987) felt that kārmāra here could mean a stone-worker. Banerji (1929) however accepted Schraeder’s earlier suggestion that the hymn actually described a smithy. Banerji argued that the passage alludes to the making of carburised iron. The Ṛgvedic smith, according to Banerji, used to convert the bright quartzian magnetic stone of iron oxide to iron through reduction by the carbonaceous dried medicinal plant, and then to carburise it by fusing with birds' wings,

v2.c38.s3.4

Indirectly, Banerji proposes that the word ayas in the Ṛgveda means iron. We do not subscribe to his views. Iron was not discovered in the age of the Ṛgveda. The Sarasvātī valley archaeological sites have not yielded any iron specimen. Iron appeared in India much later, around 1200 BC.

v2.c38.s3.5

The word ayas in the Ṛgveda (1.57.3, 1.163.9, 4.2.17, 6.3.5, 10.53.9-10 etc.) means metal in general, and not iron in particular. In the Ṛgvedic age it probably corresponded to copper and its alloys. In the subsequent Vedic literature, copper was mentioned as the red metal and iron as the black metal. This also proves that ayas in the Ṛgveda could not mean iron specifically. We would propose that the hymn 9.112.2 might have alluded to the making of copper metal through the reduction of its ore or simply to the melting of gold-bearing quartz. The end product of golden ornament, copper implement or copper-tipped arrow were sold to the moneyed people by the metalsmiths.

v2.c38.s3.6

The words *āyasī* and *ayasmaya* meant metallic commodity, and fire was characterised as *ayodaṃṣṭra* (1.88.5, 10.87.2), that which bites metal.

Linked texts (1)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit