Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t4.21

v2.c43.s3.t4.21

Emerald has few more name-equivalents in Sanskrit: harinmaṇi (green gem), garuḍodgāra, gārutmata, pannā, etc. The last three may be briefly explained. Ratnaparīkṣā and Agastimata narrated the myth or the folklore that gems had been derived from the body of the slain demon Bala: diamond from his bones, pearl from the blood, sapphire from the eyes, emerald from the bile, etc. The mythical bird Garuda had taken the green bile of the demon in its mouth and then vomitted it (hence the name gārutmata and garuḍodgāra) ‘on a mountain on the sea-coast near a desert beyond Barbara country’. We have earlier quoted the original Sanskrit text (RP, 150). Agastimata (285) mentioned Garuḍa as the king of the serpent-demon: pannagādhipaḥ. Panna also means something fallen down or dropped. Thus, the dropped bile of the serpent-demon or emerald also came to be known as pannā. It is an open question whether the location of the famous diamond mine in Bundelkhand was named Pānnā because it also yielded some emerald or pānnā. The Sanskrit word marakata was the origin of smaragdos in Greek, smaragdus in Latin, esmeralda in Spanish and emerald in English.