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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s7: Potteries and other Inorganic Materials

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s7

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Potteries and other Inorganic Materials

v2.c39.s7.1

The Vedic literatures were not primarily concerned with either metallurgy or ceramics. Thus we do not find in them the details about two outstanding innovations of that age: iron metallurgy and pottery technology. We hardly get any information about the PGW (Painted Grey Ware) in the Vedic literatures. The Atharva Veda (AV, 4.17.4) refers to the āma (unbaked) and nīla lohita ware which is believed to correspond to the earlier black-and-red ware. (Joshi, 1987 : 24-25) Sāyaṇa had explained nīla-lohita as: that (pottery) which was made in a fire-kiln where the fire was nīla on account of the emission of smoke and lohita on account of burning (the combined process of carbonization and oxidization). Hegde pointed out that ayorasa or iron rust was used in making the ritual potteries (S. Bra., 6.5.1.6), and whereas hematite is red, in a reducing furnace it was converted to blue or rather black magnetite. (Thapar, 1987:415) The reducing atmosphere was provided in an inverted technique of firing in agnicayana fire-altar or by some other mechanism.

v2.c39.s7.2

Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra (9.1-4 and 10.1-8) of c. 800 BC described the making of Pravargya rite potteries such as mahāvīra, the fire-altar (agnicayana) and the cauldron (ukhā). Bhāradvāja Śrautasūtra (c. 600 BC) described the polishing of potteries (11.3.9) using cotton cloth and abrasive such as gavidhuka, a very hard wild grain and klitakā or yaṣṭimadhu blackish paste. (Kashikar, 1969:21 and 26) However all these details pertained to the earlier and archaic varieties of potteries or ritual importance, and did not highlight the recently developed wares such as PGW or NBPW. (Thapar, 1987)

v2.c39.s7.3

Similarly, we find only casual references to brick-making in the ritual contexts. Ś. Brā., 6.1.2.22 records: ‘baking the brick (raw material) amounts to oblation (to god through fire); bricks are produced from what is offered to fire-god (iṣṭa), therefore these are called iṣṭaka (bricks)’. Glass or faience heads used to decorate the horse’s tail during the famous aśvamedha sacrifice (Ś.Brā., 13.2.6.8). Mica powder was used as a degraissant in the Harappan potteries. But we do not know whether mica was specifically known as abhra in the Vedic literature Ś.Brā., 7.5.2.48 refers to, and defines cloud as abhra:

v2.c39.s7.4

अभ्रम् वा अपाम् भस्म।
abhram vā apām bhasma |

v2.c39.s7.5

Salt or lavaṇa is rarely mentioned in the early Vedic literature such as the Ṛgveda. The word appears in the period of the Brāhmaṇas. Ś. Brā., 5.2.1.16 recognises salt as an important item of food: ‘salt means cattle and cattle is food’. The property of a salt like borax to act as a flux and assist in joining two pieces of gold was known (Chā. Up., 4.17.7, Jai.Brā.Up., 3.17.3):

v2.c39.s7.6

लवणेन सुवर्णम् संदध्यात्।
lavaṇena suvarṇam saṃdadhyāt |

v2.c39.s7.7

One should join gold (pieces) using salt (borax).

v2.c39.s7.8

The salt from the sea was known as lohita lavaṇa or red salt (Ka.ŚS, 31.17) and also as saindhava or the salt from sindhu or the sea (B.Up., 2.4.12). B.Up. further explained in this reference, that when dissolved in water, a salt particle loses its particulate nature and yet imparts salty taste to the entire mass of water:

v2.c39.s7.9

सैन्धवखिल्य उदके प्रास्त उदकम् एव अनुविलीयेत अस्य उदग्रहणाय इव न ह स्यात्; यतः
यतः तु आददीत लवणम् एव . . . .
saindhavakhilya udake prāsta udakam eva anuviliyeta asya

v2.c39.s7.10

*udagrahaṇāya iva na ha syāt; yataḥ yataḥ to ādadīta lavaṇam eva* *(B.Up., 2.4.12)*

v2.c39.s7.11

Collyrium or *añjana* was another important commodity of common use in the Vedic India. This material was probably black antimony sulphide, applied in the eyes by means of thin ‘antimony rods’ made of copper, etc. *AV*, 4.9.1-10 eulogizes *añjana* which was available in the *Tri-kakuda* (three-peaked) or *Traikūṭa* mountains (Sulaiman range), in the Himavata (Himalaya) as well as on the Jamunā valley (*AV*, 4.9.10). This material was supposed to protect the user from evil influences and also from various diseases such as tuberculosis, high fever, snake bite, etc. (*AV*, 4.9.4 and 8). Was this also internally administered as a medicine? *Traikūṭa añjana* seems to have become rare in the age of the *Sūtras* which has been hinted in several passages (*Ś. Brā*., 3.1.3.12, *Kā. ŚS*, 7.2.32).

v2.c39.s7.12

Shellac or lac was known in the age of the *Atharva Veda* (*AV*, 5.5.1-9) as *lākṣā* or *silāci*. The word *lākṣā* signified *lakhs* of larvae swarming out of a single lac incrustation. The dye component of lac *hiraṇyavarne subhage lākṣe* (*AV*, 5.5.7) was used to colour garments. It was also used as medicine in case of injury by weapons (*AV*, 4.12.1-7, 5.5.1-9).

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