Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c42.s3.t1: Post-Christian Era Additions to the Epic
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c42.s3.t1
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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