Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c45.s8: Ferrous Materials in RRS
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c45.s8
- Language
- English
Ferrous Materials in RRS
v2.c45.s8.1
The *RRS*, though primarily a medicinal text, provides valuable informations regarding the twelfth-fourteenth centuries AD status of Indian knowledge related to the ferrous materials. Such a detailed coverage (*RRS*, 5.70-5.99) had hardly been presented in any earlier literature.
v2.c45.s8.2
It was stated that there are three kinds of iron: *muṇḍam* (wrought iron), *tīkṣṇam* (cast or carburised iron or steel) and *kāntam* (the magnetic variety or the variety made from magnetite) (*RRS*, 5.70).
v2.c45.s8.3
*Muṇḍaloha* could be *mṛdu* type, which softens quickly, is smooth or glossy and does not break or is without fissure (*abisphotam*); it could be of *kuntham* variety which expands with great difficulty on hammering; or it could be *kadāram* type which breaks when struck with a hammer and has a black fracture (5.71-72).
v2.c45.s8.4
There are six varieties of *tīkṣṇam* (5.76). The *khara* variety is hard, breaks on bending, free of *pogaras* (hair follicles or hair-like lines) and on fracture, exhibits mercury-like shining surfaces (5.77). The *sāra* variety, ‘obtained from white earth’, has *pogaras* and its edges can be destroyed quickly (5.78). The *hṛnnāla* variety is whitish black, has *pogara* and is hard to pierce (5.79). The brittle variety looking like hair follicle is known as *aṅga/vaṅga/pogara/tārāvaṭṭa* (5.80). *Vājira* looks greyish black, and is full of hard *pogaras*, overspread by dense thin linings (5.81). *Kālāyasa* is bluish black, dense, smooth, bright, and its sharpened edge is not spoiled by hammering (5.82). These *tīkṣṇa* varieties are hundred times better (*śatottaram*) than other non-*tīkṣṇa* varieties (5.83).
v2.c45.s8.5
The *kāntalohas* could be classified according to colour as *pīta*, *rakta* and *kṛṣṇa* after the trinity gods (5.84-86), or according to their magnetic properties:
v2.c45.s8.6
भ्रामयेत् लोहजातं यत् तत् कान्तं भ्रामकं मतम्।
चुम्बयेत् चुम्बकं कान्तं कर्षयेत् कर्षकं तथा
साक्षात् यत् द्रावयेत् लोहं तत् कान्तं द्रावकं मतम्।
तत् रोमकान्तं स्फुटितात् ततो रोमोद्गमो भवेत्।।
*bhrāmayet lohajātaṃ yat tat kāntaṃ bhrāmakaṃ matam |*
*cumbayet cumbakaṃ kāntaṃ karṣayet karṣakaṃ tathā*
*sākṣāt yat drāvayet lohaṃ tat kāntaṃ drāvakaṃ matam |*
*tat romakāntaṃ spuṭitāt tato romodgamo bhavet ||*
v2.c45.s8.7
*Bhrāmaka* type is weakly magnetic, causing movement of ferrous materials; *cumbaka* type ‘kisses’ or causes adherence; *karṣaka* attracts, and *drāvaka* is strongly magnetic. The fifth variety of *kāntaloha*, giving rise to hair-like structures is called *romaka* (5.90-91).
v2.c45.s8.8
We conjecture that *kāntaloha* was made by reduction of magnetitic ore
v2.c45.s8.9
क्षेत्रं खात्वा ग्रहीतव्यं तत् प्रयत्नेन धीमता।
मारुतात् पविक्षिप्तं वर्जयेत् नात्र संशयः।।
*kṣetraṃ khātvā grahitavyaṃ tat prayatnena dhīmatā |*
*mārutāt pavikṣiptaṃ varjayet nātra saṃśayaḥ ||*
v2.c45.s8.10
‘obtained by carefully digging it out of the mines; that which had remained exposed to the sun and the atmosphere was avoided’ (5.94), presumably because the oxidised hematite on the surface mines would have different reducibility properties.
v2.c45.s8.11
It was known that *kāntaloha* (iron obtained from magnetite) vessel was not wetted by oil
v2.c45.s8.12
तैलबिन्दुर्न लिप्तम् पाके दुग्धं भवति
शिखराकारकं नैति भूमौ
*tailabindurna liptam pāke dugdhaṃ bhavati*
*śikharākārakam naiti bhūmau*
v2.c45.s8.13
or boiling milk ‘which does not overflow but rises high like a peak’ (5.95). The surface of *kāntaloha* probably adsorbed odoriferous and organo-leptic compounds, as *gandhaṃ hiṅgum tyajati ca tiktatām nimbalkah* it was stated that asafoetida gives up its odour, and the bitterness of *nima* (Azadirachta indica) decoction is lost when these materials are kept in a vessel made of *kāntaloha* (5.95). Such accurate observations about the non-wetting by oil or milk, and adsorption properties of the *kāntaloha* surface are indeed very fascinating.
v2.c45.s8.14
The different varieties of iron were ‘killed’ for medicinal purpose by roasting in air or with mercury, sulphur or cinnabar (5.96-5.148). It was known that
v2.c45.s8.15
ये गुणा मारिते मुण्डे ते गुणा मुण्डकिट्के
तस्मात् सर्वत्र मण्डरं रोगर्शान्त्यै प्रयोजयेत
*ye guṇā mārite muṇḍe te guṇā muṇḍakiṭṭake*
*tasmāt sarvatra maṇḍaraṃ rogarśāntyai prayojayet*
v2.c45.s8.16
the qualities of ‘killed’ *muṇḍaloha* (roasted in air) and of the *muṇḍakiṭṭaka/maṇḍara* or the rust of iron are the same, and therefore the latter was also acceptable for medicinal purposes (5.148). We know from modern science that both are oxides of iron.
v2.c45.s8.17
The high reactivity of mercury (an intoxicated elephant) with *kāntaloha* (bent hook to restrain or fix the animal) was poetically described (5.91):
v2.c45.s8.18
मदोन्मत्तगजः सुतः कान्तम् अंकुशम् उच्यते
*madonmattagajaḥ sutaḥ kāntam aṅkuśam ucyate*
Linked texts (1)
- Rasaratnasamuccaya — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit