Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c39.s9.5

v2.c39.s9.5

At a time when the potters had developed beautiful PGW and NBPW potteries, the Maitrāyaṇi Saṃhitā, the Bhāradvāja Śrautasūtra (6.8.14), etc. prescribed that the ritual milking pot should be prepared by one belonging to any of the first three social orders, and not by a potter! Even metals like gold, copper and newly discovered iron were considered to possess decreasing social status. Ś. Brā., 13.2.2.16-19 describes the aśvamedha sacrifice in which a golden knife had to be used for the first order animal namely the sacrificial horse (both representing nobility), copper knife for the paryangya or the associate animal, and the śyāmāyas or iron knife for the inferior animal (‘both representing infantry’). That iron was considered to be inferior than gold and silver becomes evident in Ś. Brā., 13.3.4.5: ‘the third (in order) oblation is offered to the people in an iron bowl, for the people are of iron’, (that means people are inferior to the king, nobles and the brāhmaṇas). The lower status of potters and ironsmiths in the society reflected a negative attitude towards science and technology, for which India had to pay a heavy price later.