Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c41.s4.5

v2.c41.s4.5

Good pravāla or corals (colour of the red lotus) came from Ālakandakam (Ālasandrakan in another manuscript; this is most possibly Alexandria of Egypt) and Vivarna (African coast of the Red Sea and Sicily, Sardinia). The specimens eaten by insects and bulging in the middle were not accepted (2.11.42). It may be noted that red coral (corallium rubrum, family Gorgonidae) of the Mediterranean was as popular to the Indians as white pearl at Rome (Pliny, 32.11). Before the Indo-Roman trade began, India was probably receiving this material through the Arab and Persian traders.