Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t12: Coral, Pravāla or Vidruma

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t12

Language
English

Coral, Pravāla or Vidruma

v2.c43.s3.t12.1

Calcite is one of the softest minerals known. Its hardness is three in the Moh’s scale. The corresponding rocks: limestone and (metamorphosed) marble or marmara (in Sanskrit) have been used for various constructional purposes but never as gems. Coral and pearl, organic in origin and largely calcitic in nature, have however been widely used as gems, on account of their beautiful colour and lustre, even though their hardness is slightly below four in the Moh’s scale.

v2.c43.s3.t12.2

Red or precious coral constitutes the substance of the calcareous axial skeleton of the coral polyp, Corallium rubrum, a lowly organised animal belonging to the class Anthozoa. Branching colonies growing on the sea-floor (30 to 300 meters below the sea-level) are supported by axial rods of red calcareous material, the so-called coral, invested by a layer of soft, living material known to zoologists as the coenosarc. The cells of the coenosarc have the power of separating out calcium carbonate from the sea water and adding on to the axial skeleton of coral.

v2.c43.s3.t12.3

The approximate composition of red coral (in percentage values) is: CaCO₃ 87.0, MgCO₃ 6.8, CaSO₄ 1.3, Fe₂O₃ 1.7, Organic matter 1.35, water 0.6, and the rest, phosphate, silica, etc. 1.3. The exact composition varies with the age of the coral and other factors. With advancement in age, the coral hardens and assays higher in the percetage of MgCO₃. The amount of organic matter, which is the principal cause of colour, is much higher in black coral (above 3 per cent), which cobtains less iron (0.8 per cent). The colouring constituent is decomposed on heat, and this could be an organic compound with iron complexed in it.

v2.c43.s3.t12.4

Some coral-fishing might have been done in the past in the Indian ocean, the Persian Sea and the Red Sea, but the principal source of the gem variety of red coral has always been the Mediterranean Sea. The Indians have always preferred this variety instead of the yellowish white materials in the Persian Gulf.

v2.c43.s3.t12.5

Kautilya gave the first description of coral: प्रवालकम् आलकन्दकं वैवर्णिकं च रक्तं पद्मरागं च करट गर्भिनिका वर्जम् इति pravālakam ālakandakam vaivarṇikam ca raktaṃ pdmarāgaṃ ca karaṭa garbhinikā varjam iti (AS, 2.11.42)

v2.c43.s3.t12.6

The coral from Alakanda (Alexandria?) and from Vivarṇa, red and of the colour of the lotus (is excellent), with the exception of that which is eaten by insects and what is bulging in the middle.

v2.c43.s3.t12.7

*Pravāla* is mentioned in *Bṛ. Saṃ.*, 80.5 also. *Navaratnaparīkṣā* described how coral or *vidruma* grows like tree under the water level (*NRP*, 162):

v2.c43.s3.t12.8

सरिताम् पतिमध्ये तु जायते वल्लरी तु या
विद्रुमाख्या सुरक्ता सा दुर्लभा रत्नरुपिणी
*saritām patimadhye tu jāyate vallarī tu yā*
*vidrumākhyā suraktā sā durlabhā ratnarūpiṇī*

v2.c43.s3.t12.9

*Maṇimālā* (*MM*, 338) provided a similar text: ‘*Vidruma* is a cross-shaped gem resembling a plant (*vallarī*) and found in the White Sea’.

v2.c43.s3.t12.10

Buddhabhaṭṭa gave a detailed description of coral and its origin in the sea around Rome (*RP*, 249-252):

v2.c43.s3.t12.11

तत्र प्रधानम् शशलोहिताभं गुंजावपुष्निभम् प्रशस्तम्
संलाशकम् देवक रोमके च स्थानानि येषु प्रथितम् सुरागम्
अन्यत्र जातम् च न तत् प्रधानम् . . .
प्रसन्नम् कोमलं स्निग्धं सुरागं विद्रुमम् हितम्
धनधान्यकरं लोके स्त्रीणाम् सौभाग्यदायकम्
दुष्टव्याधिहरम् चैव विषादिभयनाशनम्
*tatra pradhānam śaśalohitābham guñjāvapuṣṇibham praśastam*
*samlāśakam devaka romake ca sthānāni yeṣu prathitam surāgam*
*anyatra jātam ca na tat pradhānam . . .*
*prasannam komalam snigdham surāgam vidrumam hitam*
*dhanadhānyakaram loke strīṇām saubhāgyadāyakam*
*duṣṭavyādhiharam caiva viṣādibhayanāśanam*

v2.c43.s3.t12.12

The most important (variety of coral) is the one coloured like the blood of a hare, the *guñja*-berry or the China-rose. It is available in *samlāśa* (Sunilaka in *GP*, 1.80.2), Devaka and Romaka (Rome). Corals found elsewhere are not so important. . . Corals of pleasing colour, soft and glossy, possessing deep crimson colour are productive of wealth and food-grain, bring good luck to the women and dispel the fears of disease, poison, etc.

v2.c43.s3.t12.13

*Garuḍa Purāṇa* copied the above text of *Ratnaparīkṣā* almost verbatim (as in many other cases) and added that some coral was available in Kerala (*GP*, 1.80.1); presumably the coral in Kerala did not belong to good variety. As in *Ratnaparīkṣā* (*RP*, 250), *Agastimata*, Appendix 10 (quoted by Finot, p. 135) also mentioned that the best coral was obtained from the sea-coast of a foreign land:

v2.c43.s3.t12.14

म्लेच्छभूदिशि पर्वते लवणः सागरो तत्र प्रवालोत्पत्ति

v2.c43.s3.t12.15

mlecchabhūdiśī parvate lavaṇaḥ sāgaro tatra pravālotpatti In Agastiyā Ratnaparikṣā we find another description of coral:

v2.c43.s3.t12.16

गुंजा बन्धूक सिन्दूर दाड़िमीकुसुमप्रभम्
guñjā bandhūka sindūra dāḍimikusumaprabham
(ARP, 94)

v2.c43.s3.t12.17

that which resembles guñjā berry, the bandhuli flower, the vermilion or the pomegranate flower’.

v2.c43.s3.t12.18

also straight and circular or cylindrical (ARP, 95) : vṛttāyatam avakrakam.

v2.c43.s3.t12.19

The Sanskrit extracts on coral provided in Maṇimālā (MM, 338-344) show that in India corals of different shades of colour were held to belong to different castes: the brāhmaṇa variety is crimson-red, like the blood or eye of the hare, easily penetrable and delightful (MM, 340):

v2.c43.s3.t12.20

अरुणं शशरक्ताक्षं . . . सुखवेध्यं मनोहरम्
aruṇam śaśaraktākṣam . . . sukhavedhyam manoharam

v2.c43.s3.t12.21

That which resembles javā or China-rose or vermilion and is very hard, belongs to the kṣatriya family. Pale coloured and poor lustre samples belong to the two lower castes (MM, 341-344). Roughness and the quality of being discoloured or disfigured with lines and spots etc. rendered coral as unacceptable (MM, 346-347).

v2.c43.s3.t12.22

Coral beads have been used by the religious people of India as rosaries to count their prayers. It has been worn in form of necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and other ornaments.

v2.c43.s3.t12.23

Pliny had observed (32.11) with some surprise that red coral, which was not so much in demand in the Roman Empire, was as highly prized in India as the white pearl at Rome. V. Ball, the famous nineteenth century mineralogist, ascribed the Indians’ preferance for red coral to ‘the way its tints adapt themselves to set off a dark skin, and also look well with a white garment’. Black coral, in abundance in the Red Sea, was not so popular in India.

Linked texts (4)