Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c46.s2.3

v2.c46.s2.3

Atharvaveda speculated (4.10.1-7) about the cause of orign of conch-shell and conch-pearl. Along with a mythological theory of these gems originating from ‘gods bones’, the other theory proclaimed that the materials could have grown in the sea under atmospheric influences. This mixture of belief in mythology and rational thinking continued for centuries. We find Varāhamihira declaring (*Br. Sam.*, 80.3) in the fifth century AD that the wonderful variety of gems is caused by the characteristic qualities of the earth, and yet the fourteenth century AD text *Rasaratnasamuccaya* continued to repeat the mythological theory.