Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c42.s3: Metals in the Mahābhārata
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c42.s3
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Metals in the Mahābhārata
v2.c42.s3.1
During the Pre-Mauryan era, the Greek authors such as Herodotus (3.102-105) first mentioned about the legend of ant-gold in India. In the *Mahābhārata* also, we find the same topic: *pipīlikaih jātarūpam* (2.48.4). Megasthanes (Indica 32), Strabo (15.1.44), Pliny (6.22;11.35) repeated the story that ant-golds came from Kashmir, Tibet and the Dardic region.
v2.c42.s3.2
The mystery was solved in the nineteenth century (Ball 1881). It was found that a tribe in the Himālayas used to dig out gold in the extreme winter to avoid the prying eyes of the robbers. The miners' black tents made of yak hair looked like hairy animals from some distance. The miners spread the myth that big gold-digging ants used to dig that gold.
v2.c42.s3.3
From the Vedic age, *niṣka* was known as a prominent gold ornament and sometimes as a decorative lump of gold. In the *Mahābhārata*, this has been mentioned as an ornament for both men and women (1.67.2; 7.19.35); a round piece of gold, tied at the neck in a string or chain (7.91.26), at times several such pieces strung into a necklet (7.138.17). Rarely *niṣka*, *śatamāna* and *sāna* were mentioned as coins or money-exchanging units. Gold vessels were frequently mentioned but these were probably too costly to be left behind and to be subsequently recovered as archaeological items. Silver pitchers — *kalaśa* (15.3.12) and *kumbha* (8.6.37) — were probably items imported through Graeco-Roman trade (2.34.4; 2.47.16). Bell metal and brass (*kāṃsya*) were used as milking and drinking vessels (2.45.26; 2.49.3; 15.34.13-14). Sometimes these were gilded with gold (4.63.47).
v2.c42.s3.4
The *Mahābhārata* recorded the onset of iron age in India. Iron is everywhere on the scene, for arrows, spears and other weapons referred to as *ayas* (6.50.68; 9.14.3), *pāraśava* (6.76.36; 9.14.14), *adrisāramaya* (3.170.49), *aśmasāramaya* (8.66.58), *karṣṇāyasa* (7.28.4), etc. Thirty to forty different types of arrows were described. The Vedic *rsti* disappeared. The sword (2.47.1) (*asi, khadga*) assumed increasing importance but the literature described it as a defensive weapon compared to the arrows. Similarly body-armours like *kavaca* (5.150.81), *varma* (1.28.11; 3.24.3), *dehāvarana* (8.10.29), *śirastrāna* (6.31.54; 8.16.25) were used for protection. A typical weapon associated with durga or fort was *śataghni* (1.199.32; 3.274.22; 7.108.40; 9.12.24) which was a huge structure, studded with spikes and provided with wheels or *cakras*; this was described by Kautilya.
Post-Christian Era Additions to the Epic
v2.c42.s3.t1.1
The art of gem-incrustation was earlier known but popularized later in India by the Indo-Scythians and Parthians at Taxilā around the first century AD. Significantly, Lad (1983: 51 and 70-71) opines that the fifty odd references to the jewelled artefacts were entered in the epic during or after the aforesaid date. Some of the references are listed below.
v2.c42.s3.t1.2
Eight *vaidūrya* stones encased in gold were offered by Prince Uttara to Arjuna (4.36.39). Lord Kṛṣṇa, always dressed in yellow, was likened to a *mani* encased in gold (5.92.52; 12.45.14)
v2.c42.s3.t1.3
अतसीपुष्प संकाशः पीतवासा जनार्दनः
व्यभ्राजत सभामध्ये हेम्नीवोपहितो मणिः
*atasipuṣpa saṃkāśaḥ pītavāsā janārdanaḥ*
*vyabhrājata sabhāmadhye hemnivopahito maṇiḥ*
(5.92.52)
v2.c42.s3.t1.4
King Drupad presented to the Pāṇḍavas vessels or bhājanas ornamented with beryl and diamond:
v2.c42.s3.t1.5
शयनासन यानि विविधानि महान्ति च
वैडूर्यवज्रचित्राणि शतशो भाजनानि च
śayanāsana yānāni vividhāni mahānti ca
vaidūryavajracitrāṇi śataśo bhājanāni ca
(1.191.15)
v2.c42.s3.t1.6
A few gold pātras ear-marked as gifts for brāhmaṇas were likewise incrusted with vajra (12.165.14). Similar silver dishes with gem incrustations were introduced at Taxilā by the Greeks around AD 100 for the first time; these were known as paterae. The drinking horn or rhyton of the Graeco-Romans was also imitated. In one solitary instance, the Mahābhārata (8.6.37) describes some elephant-tusks and rhino and cattle-horns, ornamented with pearls and precious stones, which were used as water-sprinklers during the consecration of Karṇa as the commander of the Kauravas.
v2.c42.s3.t1.7
The references to the Chinese silk (2.47.22), Bharukaccha and Roma (Rome):
v2.c42.s3.t1.8
अन्ताखीं चैव रोमां च यवनानां पुरं . . . भरुकच्छं गतो
antākhīṃ caiva romāṃ ca yavanānāṃ puraṃ . . . .
bharukaccham gato
(2.28.49-50)
v2.c42.s3.t1.9
clearly prove that insertions were made in the epic long after the onset of the Christian era. The description of the gold-decorated ornametal armour-coats in the Virāṭaparva is very significant on account of their close affinity with Sassanian metal works of the fifth-sixth centuries AD (Lad, 1983).
Linked texts (1)
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit