Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t11.11

v2.c43.s3.t11.11

Lapis lazuli has been used to make small articles such as bowls, vases, fancy articles of various kinds. The blue colour is often flecked with shining, metallic specks of iron pyrites; Pliny compared such stones with the star-bedecked blue sky. Maṇimālā (MM, 442) described such a sample, as a blue mass flecked with gold: *ānilam svarṇayukta yat tu rājavartam udāhṛtam*.