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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s1: Minerals and Metals

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s1

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Minerals and Metals

v2.c39.s1.1

The word nidhi representing mineral treasures was mentioned in ṚV, 2.24.6, 8.29.6, 10.68.6 etc., and repeated later as in AV, 10.7.23. Commenting on the passage 7.1.2 in the Chāndogya Upanisad, wherein several branches of knowledge such as rāśi or mathematics, bhūtavidyā or physics and nidhi or mineralogy were mentioned, the great commentator Śaṅkarācārya referred to ‘nidhim, the subject of mineralogy as found in books, like, Mahakala, etc.’. We do not know the author or the approximate date of compilation of this book.

v2.c39.s1.2

The use of a winnow must have been very ancient, this having been depicted in a Harappan seal. The Atharva Veda was the first literature in which this is mentioned as a *śūrpa*. The hymns 9.6.15-16 (and also 11.2.1 and 11.8.3-4) describe the roles of the mortar and pestle in corn pounding, followed by the use of a *śūrpa* or a winnow in separating the grain from the husk. Now we know that the principle of separation is based on the non-terminal pneumatic settling of particles. This technique as well as the hydraulic (in water) gravity-settling process must have been used to separate the fine/coarse and light/heavy mineral particles. This separation process was recognised as a step of purification: *śūrpam pavitram tuṣā* (AV, 9.6.16) for which air served as the medium of separation: *śūrpagrāhī vātoipāvinak* (AV, 11.8.4).

v2.c39.s1.3

The words related to purification: *pavana, pavamāna, pavitra*, etc. appeared in many places and under different contexts. We have already discussed pneumatic separation as in winnowing; purifying the juice of *soma* through a strainer or filter represented another kind (*RV*, 1.28.9, 3.36.7, AV, 6.124.3, 9.6.16, 12.3.3, etc.), for which the word *pavitra* was used. Purification by roasting or smelting was well recognised, and *agni* or fire was qualified as *pavamāna* or that which purifies (*Ait. Brā*, 2.37, *Tait. Brā*. 1.1.5.10, 2.2.4.2., *Ś. Brā*, 2.2.1.6, 2.2.3.22, etc.).

v2.c39.s1.4

The word for charcoal namely *aṅgāra* appears in the *B.Up.*, 3.9.18 in connection with the instrument tong or *aṅgāra-abakṣayanam* which was used to handle hot pieces of charcoal in a furnace. The word *bhastrā* meant leather-bag in *Ś.Brā* (1.1.2.7, 1.6.3.16), and eventually it also meant the leather bellow used to blow air into a furnace. *Dhmātri* meant bellow, blow pipe, and the smelter — *prathamā vibhakti dhmātā* in *RV*, 5.9.5. *Dhmātri* has also been used in *saptamī vibhakti* meaning ‘in the furnace of smelting’. The act of smelting or melting is mentioned in the Vedic literature (*RV*, 4.2.17, *Ś.Brā*, 6.1.3.5).

Cites (7)