Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t8.8

v2.c43.s3.t8.8

‘Rudhirākṣa (red-eyed) gem is available on the Narmadā valley, in China, etc. It is like indragopa or cochineal insect (honey-coloured) and pīlu, the ripe berry of salvadora persica which is said to be dark red. Buddhabhaṭṭa has also alluded to the occasional greenish and bluish shades of rudhirākṣa, which we are unable to explain. In Rayaṇaparikkhā, Pherū mentioned that in the thirteenth-fourteenth century AD, India was importing from Yemen some low-price akik or carnelian which had the colour of pīlu (ripe berry, Salvadora persica):