Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t6.13

v2.c43.s3.t6.13

Maṇimālā contained some more statements on gomeda (MM, 330-337), which was stated to be available in the Himālaya and the shore of the Indus (MM, 330). Opinions were divided as to the price of a sterling gomeda, ‘some maintaining it to be double that of a proportionate mass of gold (evidently zircon in this case was made to pass as diamond), some holding it to be equal to that of a vidruma (coral), some to that of cāmāra (bushy tail of Bos Granniens) (MM, 336). Fraudulent jewellers were known to fabricate false gomeda with crystal, just as transparent or light-coloured zircon or gomeda sometimes passed as diamond belonging to one of the four classes or castes (MM, 337).