Iron in Ancient India c4.7

c4.7

The word "Ayas" frequently occurs in the Rig and other Vedas. It means "iron" and has been translated as such by the great commentator Sāyana, Prof. Max Müller, Griffiths, Wilson, R. C. Dutt, the author of Bāchaspatya Lexicon, and others, though Sāyana in some passages has taken it to mean "gold" also. On the other hand Macdonell and Keith in their "Vedic Index" suppose it to mean "bronze," perhaps being influenced by the theory that bronze preceded iron in India also.¹ They argue "as favouring the sense of 'bronze' rather than that of 'iron' may perhaps be cited with Zimmer (Altindisches Leben, 52) the fact that Agni is called 'Ayo-damstra,' with the teeth of ayas, (Rig. I, 88, 5; X, 87, 2) with reference to the colour of his flames, and that the car-seat of Mitra and Varuna is called 'aya-sthuna' (Rig. V. 62, 8) with 'pillars of ayas' at the setting of the sun (but this is not convincing, as in the same verse it is said to be of 'golden appearance at the flash of dawn' (footnote)." I have been at some pains to consult the original text, specially Sāyana's commentary, and am afraid that Macdonell and Keith's argument cannot stand. As regards "ayo-damstra" in Rig. I, 88, 5, it is an adjective of "barāhūn,"¹ the passage being translated by Max Müller as "wild boars rushing about with iron tusks." I am completely at a loss how it may be taken to refer to the colour of flames. There are, however, other passages in which the word has been used as an adjective of Agni, for example in Rig. X, 87, 2, where Wilson translates it as "teeth of iron." The same passage occurs in Atharv. VIII, 3, 2, in which Whitney translates the word as "tusks of iron." The adjective evidently refers to the sharpness of the tongues of flames and not to their colour. Then as regards "ayo-sthuna" in Rig. V, 62, 8 (and also in Rig. V, 62, 7)² we find that Shāyana has rendered "ayas" as "gold." This rendering is in full agreement with what Macdonell and Keith mention "as golden appearance at the flash of dawn." In any case in this or similar passages we may safely take the rendering of the scholiast of "ayas" as "gold" as fully authoritative. There is absolutely no justification for bringing in the idea of "bronze."