Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c40.s5.3

v2.c40.s5.3

Padārtha originally meant the meaning (artha) of a word (pada) and very soon came to denote a thing, material or object whose name conveys a district meaning or a material which is well-defined (Pāṇ., 1.4.96). Thus Pāṇini brought us from the linguistic to the material science. During Pāṇini’s time, dhātu meant the constituent, and later it denoted metallic constituent or a metal. Sattva meant reality, substance or the essence of an object (Pāṇ., 1.4.57; 2.3.33). The Rasa-Śāstras of the post-Christian era adopted the word sattva to mean the metallic essence in the ore mineral(s).