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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t7: Quartz (7) Family of Gem-Minerals

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t7

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Quartz (7) Family of Gem-Minerals

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Quartz is pure silica, SiO₂, and has hardness seven in the Moh’s scale; it represents the headship of a family of a very large number of minerals occurring in the earth’s crust. Silica occurs in nature either as crystalline quartz in unhydrated form, or as chalcedony sub-group of minerals (hardness 6-1/2) which is hydrated silica SiO₂, nH₂O. In pure forms both these materials are colourless, but trace quantities of specific oxides render specific colours and gem-like qualities to them.

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Quartz has been known as ‘rock-crystal’ when it appears as transparent crystal; this was erroneously believed in the ancient world as ‘very hard ice congealed in intense cold’. The Sanskrit name has been sphaṭika* which was known to occur in the Kāverī Valley, Vindhya mountains, China, Nepal (*RP*, 246; *GP*, 1.79.1), in the Himālayas, Sri Lanka, shores of the Tāpī or Tāptī (*NRP*, 153; *MM*, 435), etc.

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Ratnaparīkṣā (*RP*, 247) recognised that sphaṭika could be as transparent as ākāśa (sky) or taila (oil). Maṇimālā (*MM*, 443) defined:

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आकाशशुद्धम् तैलाख्यम् स्फटिकम्
ākāśaśuddham tailākhyam sphaṭikam
Quartz as transparent as sky, is called taila or tailākhya.

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Rasaratnasamuccaya (*RRS*, 4.92) described:

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गंगातोयविन्दुच्छवि विमलतमं निस्तुषं . . .
. . . पाषाणैर्यन्निघृष्टं स्फुटितमपि निजां स्वच्छतां नैव जह्यात्
gaṅgātoyavinducchavi vimalatamam nistuṣam . . .

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∗ Alfred Master drew attention to the Ṛgvedic (1.62.4,1.121.10,4.50.5 and 8.32.35) word phaligam probably meaning crystal. Sphaṭika first occurs in a late Upaniṣad. The Pāli word continued to be phalika. Master suggested that the word had a Dravidian origin.

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...pāṣāṇairyannighṛṣṭam sphuṭitamapi nijam svacchatām naiva jahyāt

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The best variety has a shade like a drop of gaṅgā’s water, very clear, free from chaff. When rubbed on stone, it may be broken, but never loses its transparency.

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The property of light-transparency in quartz has been emphasized in Rayanparikkhā: darpaṇa iva sitam white as mirror (RYP, 95).

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Jyotirasaka (AS, 2.11.35) and muktajyotirasa (MM, 441) might have been different names of transparent rock crystal permitting migration of rays. Yāska had mentioned (Nirukta, 7.23) that double or plano-convex lens ground from rock-crystal was used to converge rays and to produce fire (Wilhelm Rau, Brennlinse in alten Indien, Mainz 1983; also Vedic Bibliography, fourth volume item no. 31). When used for such a purpose, rock-crystal was known as a ravikānta or sūryakānta (NRP, 155; MM, 437 and RYP, 96).

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सूर्यांशुस्पर्शामात्रेण वहनिम् वमति तत्क्षणात्
सूर्यकान्त तद् आख्यातम् स्फटिकम् रत्नकोविदः
sūryāṃśusparśamātreṇa vahnim vamati tatkṣaṇāt
sūryakānti tad ākhyātam sphaṭikam ratnakovidah

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MM 441 described the same property, but termed the material as Muktajyotirasa:

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अत्यन्त निर्मलं स्वच्छं स्रवतीव जलं शुचि।
ज्योतिर्ज्वलनम् आश्लिष्टं मुक्त ज्योतिरसं द्विज।।
atyanta nirmalam svaccham sravatīva jalam śuci ।
jyotirjvālanam āśliṣṭam mukta jyotirasam dvija ।।

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In translucent or opaque form, quartz was compared with the white portion of the eye, the white lotus or conch-shell, sometimes with its colour slightly altered:

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नेत्राब्जम् मृणालशंखधवलम् किंचित् वर्णान्तरान्वितम्
netrābjam mṛṇālaśaṅkhadhavalam kiñcit varṇāntarānvitam
(RP, 247; GP, 1.79.2; MM, 443)

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It was recognised that quartz occurs in many forms and colours: nānārūpam manoharam (NRP, 153), śuddhasphaṭika garbheṣu rāgānām ekaviṃśati (AM, 324) ‘Twenty-one different kinds of colours may appear in the matrix of pure quartz’. The variety from the Vindhya mountains and the shores of the Tāptī had the shade like the leaves of the Aśoka flower and brightness of the seed of the pomegranate: aśokapallavacchāyam dāḍimibījasannibham (NRP, 157; MM, 439) aśokamadhuvartikam (AM, 322).

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The above variety could have been manganese-containing quartz, usually known as amethyst. Agastimata described (AM, 323) different varieties of quartz: golden-hued, blue, resembling zircon, beryl or emerald etc. Blue-black quartz or nilagandhika was known to occur in the ruby mines of Sri Lanka:

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सिंहेले जायेते कृष्णम् आकरे नीलगन्धिके।
पद्मरागभवस्थाने विविधम् स्फटिकम् भवेत।।
simhale jāyate kṛṣṇam ākare nīlagandhike ।
padmarāgabhavasthāne vividham sphaṭikam bhavet ॥
(NRP, 158; MM 440)

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Maṇimālā (442) described brahmamaya as brahmasūtramaya, threaded or full of ‘sacred threads’. It could have been brahmamaṇi mentioned in Bṛ. Saṃ., 80.5 or chatoyant quartz cat’s eye. In the same śloka (MM, 442), rājamaya has been described as the red variety of quartz, or ferruginous jasper or carnelian; this could have been the rājamaṇi referred to in Bṛ. Saṃ., 80.4. Blue golden quartz was given the name rājāvarta (MM, 442); most possibly this was not quartz but blue lapis lazuli, bedecked with yellowish pyrite.

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Tagore (1879:510-11) quoted the description of svarṇāṅgi:

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नीलं हरित् रक्तसमानवर्णं निर्दोष चामीकर विन्दुयुक्तं
शोभाभिरा मं जनचित्तहारि स्वर्णांगि
nīlam harit raktasamānavarṇam nirdoṣa cāmīkara vinduyuktam
śobhābhirāmam janacittahāri svarṇāṅgi

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and translated this as chrysoprase which is ‘blue, green or blood-red, beautifully freckled and spotted with the colour of unalloyed gold or thorn-apple (cāmīkara). This could correspond to many coloured quartz, multi-phase jasper or aventurine.

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Chrysoprase is known to be a fine-grained moderately translucent quartz having a beautiful apple-green colour. The colour arises due to a small percentage of hydrated nickel silicate. Heating causes dehydration and concomitant decolourisation of the mineral. The leek-green colour could also be due to enclosed fine fibres of actinolite. Bauer (1968:498) wrote that ‘some very fine stones come from India, but exactly where they are found does not seem to be known’. On the other hand, the reference to gold (cāmīkara and svarṇāṅgi) could mean that the material was at least partly citrine quartz of a saffrine yellow colour.

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Buddhabhaṭṭa made it clear (RP, 248; MM, 444) that though many-hued, quartz is not as valuable as other gems (usually harder), unless ‘it is refined by a skilful lapidary, when it turns out as a good gem’.

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Is Bhīṣma Quartz or Chalcedony?

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Having discussed the group of minerals representing unhydrated crystalline silica, named quartz, rock-crystal and *sphaṭika* (in Sanskrit), we may proceed to discuss the other group, namely chalcedony, which is SiO₂, nH₂O hydrated silica, having lower hardness (6-1/2) and appearing in many forms and colours. Before we do that, we propose to record the observations on *bhīṣma* in the Sanskrit literature; we are not certain whether *bhīṣma* belongs to the quartz or the chalcedony sub-family. Tagore (1879: 497-501) has equated *bhīṣma* with rock-crystal, whereas Sarma (1984: 70) thinks that ‘it is probably some kind of white chalcedony’.

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*Bhīṣma* was said to occur in the Himālayas (*RP*, 231; *GP*, 1.76.1), as well as in Kaliṅga, Magadha and the Malaya region (*MM*, 445). Buddhabhaṭṭa compared this gem with white conch-shell, lotus or lily, Somālaka and diamond (*RP*, 232):

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शुक्लाः शंखाब्जनिभाः सोमालकसन्निभाः वज्रनिभाः भीष्मपाषाणाः
*śuklāḥ śaṅkhābjanibhāḥ somālakasannibhāḥ vajranibhāḥ bhīṣmapāṣāṇāḥ*

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Similar description have been given in *GP*, 1.76.2 and *MM*, 446 with the additional remark that these were *śyoṇāka sannibhāḥ*: like the *śyoṇāka* (*Oroxylum indicum*) flower which is yellowish white. *RYP*, 99 described the gem as ‘pale yellow like the moon in the daytime’. These are lustrous and sometimes similar to a fairly big-sized diamond. These gems were often set in gold and used in necklaces (*GP*, 1.76.3 and *MM*, 447). When worn, the gem was ‘supposed to protect the person from all dangers’ (*GP*; 1.76, 3-6. *MM*, 447-450). Moss-coloured, cloud-like, dirty and rough samples were disliked. The price of the *bhīṣma* gems was fixed by the experts in accordance with its quality and place of origin (*GP*, 1.76.7-8. *MM*, 451-52).

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