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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s2: Different Kinds of Ayas

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s2

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Different Kinds of Ayas

v2.c39.s2.1

We have explained in the previous chapter that in the *Rgveda*, *ayas* meant metal in general and not iron specifically. As a matter of fact, iron was discovered in India much later; the *Rgveda* mentioned gold and silver specifically, and *ayas* mentioned therein probably corresponded to copper and bronze.

v2.c39.s2.2

*Śukla Yajurveda* (*Ś.YV*) or *Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā* (*Vā. Sam*) was probably the first Indian literature to mention *śyāma* or iron specifically, along with a few other metals: *hiraṇya* (gold), *mehaja* (silver), *loha* (copper), *sīsā* (lead) and *trapu* (tin) (*Ś.YV*, 18.13). In the Atharva Veda (AV), a cosmic supernatural being has been described to have different part of the body resembling different metals including *śyāma*:

v2.c39.s2.3

श्याmamय: अस्य मांसानि लोहितमस्य लोहितम् त्रपु भस्म हरितं वर्ण: पुष्करमस्य गन्ध: śyāmamayaḥ asya māṃsāni lohitamasya lohitam trapu bhasma haritaṃ varṇaḥ puṣkaramasya gandhaḥ (AV, 11.8.7-8)

v2.c39.s2.4

Do the above references indicate that these portions of the text in Ś.YV and AV were collated after twelfth century BC, the earliest date for archaeological specimen of iron (śyāma) in India? We are sure that loha (copper), sīsā (lead) and trapu (tin) were known and used in India much earlier, even though these names do not appear in the Ṛgveda.

v2.c39.s2.5

Śyāma appears in many other literatures such as AV, 9.5.4, Ś. Brā, 13.2.2.16, Kā. Saṃ 18.10, Mait. Saṃ. 2.11.5 etc. At a later stage, iron was also known as kṛṣṇāyas or kārṣṇāyas or black metal (Jai. Brā. Up., 3.17.3). A very clear reference is obtained in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad:

v2.c39.s2.6

नखकृन्तनेन सर्वकार्ष्णायसं विज्ञातम् . . . . . . . . कृष्णायसं इति एव सत्यं nakhakṛntanena sarvakārṣṇāyasaṃ vijñātam . . . . . . . . kṛṣṇāyasam iti eva satyam (Chā. Up., 6.1.6)

v2.c39.s2.7

By knowing a nailcutter all things made of iron become known . . . . Iron as such is the reality.

v2.c39.s2.8

The previous passage in Chā. Up. (6.1.5) mentions that by knowing a copper bead or lohamaṇi all things made of copper or loha (red metal) are known. Another interesting passage in Chā. Up. (4.17.7) provides interesting lessons in metallurgy: ‘One would join gold with the help of borax (lavaṇa), silver with the help of gold, tin (trapu) with the help of silver, lead (sīsā) with the help of tin, copper (loha) with the help of lead and timber with copper or leather’. Here the word loha has been misconstrued as iron by several scholars. Loha, lohāyas or lohitāyas is clearly copper, the red metal (Ś.Brā., 5.4.1.1, and 2, 13.2.2.18; Mait. Saṃ, 2.11.5, 4.4.4; Kā. Saṃ, 18.10).

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