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Copper in Ancient India

Copper and its alloys in Vedic and classical texts and archaeology; mining, smelting, bronze casting, copper plates and statues; analyses.

Language
English
Author
Panchanan Neogi
Extent
359 passages, 23,636 words
Text
complete digital text
Source
archive.org · Calcutta: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science 1918 (Special Publication 1); scan on… · In copyright (Panchanan Neogi); freely available on archive.org — shown with credit and a link to that copy,…

Contents

Text

Front matter

Copper in Ancient India

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COPPER IN ANCIENT INIDA

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PANCHANAN NEOGI

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JANAKI PRAKASHAN Ashok Rajpath, Patna © Panchanan Neogi Published by R.B. Singh for Janaki Prakashan, Ashok Rapath, Chauhatta, Patna-800004 Printed at Rajiv Printers through Shabdankan, Mauj pur, Delhi-153

Content

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Chapter I 1 Earliest times The Vedic age The Brāhman age The Epic age

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The copper age in India 12 Chapter II Copper implements discovered in Gunjeria Ancient Indian copper implements Date of the copper age in India

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Ancient specimens of Indian copper 21 Chapter III Copper bolt in Asoka pillar Colossal copper statues of Buddha Copper coins Copper mints Method of copper coinage Copper plates Copper utensils Copper caskets

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Alloys of copper—(1) bronze 32 Chapter IV Bronze The bronze age Ancient specimens of Indian bronze Manufacture of bronze

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Chapter V

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Ancient specimens of Indian brass Brass and bronze guns and cannons of the Moghuls Chemistry of brass Earlier discovery of zinc in India than in Europe Recognition of brass as an alloy Manufacture of brass from zinc

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Matters of chemical interest relating to copper

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Chapter VI

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Compounds of copper Copper sulphide Copper sulphate Copper flame

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Metallurgy of copper

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Chapter VII

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Copper mines in ancient India Ores of copper Metallurgy of copper

Plates

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Plate I. Prehistoric copper implements in Gunjeria, Central Province Plate II. Prehistoric copper celts, spear or harpoon heads discovered in the Bijnor district Plate III. Prehistoric copper celts discovered in Bithur Plate IV. Prehistoric copper swords discovered at Fategarh Plate V. Copper bolt in Rampurwa Ashoka pillar Plate VI. Colossal copper statue discovered in Sultangunj Plate VII. The gigantic brass bell at the Siwa dagon Paya in Burma Plate VIII. The famous Minguin bell in Burma Plate IX. The famous bronze cannon “Mallik-i-maidan” at Bijapur Plate X. Copper sulphate works in Rajputana Plate XI. Indian blast furnace for smelting copper

Introduction

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The present monograph is a companion volume to my *Iron in Ancient India* and embodies in an enlarged form a lecture delivered on the 9th April, 1914, at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, the late Maharaja Kumud Chandra Singha Bahadur of Susanga presiding. The sources from which materials have been drawn have been similar to those which had been utilised in the preparation of my monograph on Indian iron. In addition to medico-chemical Sanskrit texts examined by Dr. P. C. Ray in his *History of Hindu Chemistry*, non-medical Sanskritic, minerological and specially archaeological literature has freely been laid under contribution. I take this opportunity of submitting that archaeological literature, which has hitherto remained unexplored by students of the history of Hindu Chemistry, affords by far the most convincing evidence which can be brought to the solution of a problem relating to the knowledge of metals in ancient India, as archaeological specimens unearthed by the unceasing labours of the Archaeological Department can be seen, tested and handled by the public at large and speak with unerring emphasis of the existence of a prosperous metallic industry in ages gone by. Owing to that reason I have, wherever possible, attempted to collect archaeological evidence to the best of my abilities, and I believe that literary texts when supported by archaeological evidence receive an added confirmation which would convince even the most sceptic.

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So far as India is concerned, it appears that copper was known in the later Vedic age and specially in the Brahman age, and it does not appear to have been mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the earliest of the Vedas. A copper age intervened in Northern India after the neolithic period, the copper implements being very likely used by the original non-Aryan inhabitants of India, their Aryan conquerors being fully acquainted with the use of iron from the time of their first settlement in the Punjab. Southern India passed directly from the stone to the iron age and no bronze age intervened in any part of India as in the case of Europe. As a matter of fact I concur in the assertion that the Eastern origin of the bronze age must definitely be abandoned.

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India abounds in ancient specimens of copper though in this respect the specimens of iron in the shape of pillars and beams still existing in India are certainly more wonderful. Nevertheless a continuous story of the existence of a copper industry may be read from pre-historic times down to the 17th century in the unique find of about 400 pre-historic copper implements in the village of Gunjeria in the Central Provinces to begin with to the remarkable copper bolt in the Asoka-pillar discovered near the frontiers of Nepal, the colossal copper statue of Buddha discoverd in Sultanganj and another such statue 80 feet high witnessed by the Chinese traveller Hiuen-Tsiang near the Nalanda Convent, the brass convent 100 feet at the base constructed by King Silāditya, copper coins, plates, caskets and utensils from pre-Christian time onwards, and lastly the enormous brass guns and cannon of the Moghul period. These varied and numerous archaeological specimens of copper articles of all ages bear eloquent testimony to the existence of a flourishing copper industry in ancient India.

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As regards the important alloys of copper, India can boast nothing in comparison with the bronze colossus at Rhodes or the bronze statue of Apollo at the Roman Palatine Library; but as regards brass, India can justly claim superior knowledge about its chemistry. Owing to the much earlier discovery of zinc in India the chemistry of brass was much better understood in India than in contemporary Europe, and in fact brass was recognised in India as an alloy and prepared directly from zinc as distinguished from its ores several centuries earlier than in Europe.

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Of the ores of copper known in ancient India and from which copper was extracted, copper pyrites were the most important. Copper glance, malachite and red copper ore were very likely known.

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Regarding the compounds of copper the sulphide and the sulphate were prepared artificially. The sulphate or blue vitriol as well as green vitriol were known from the 3rd century B.C., thus showing that the difference between the two vitriols was known in India at a time when it was not suspected in Europe. Copper sulphate was prepared by the direct action of sulphuric acid on copper in the 16th century, the reaction being rediscovered in Europe by Glauber in 1648. The sulphide was very likely discoverd by Vrinda (900 A.D.) but certainly by Chakrapāni (1060 A.D.) by the combination of copper and sulphur.

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I have attempted to identify the location of copper mines which existed in ancient India. References on this subject are however quite casual; nevertheless sites of ancient copper mines have been discovered in many places throughout India. It is to be noted that copper obtained from Nepal was of superior value and there is also evidence to show that in the middle ages copper used to be imported also from foreign countries to supply the demand in India.

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As regards metallurgy of copper, alchemical literature gives formulae for preparing copper by heating copper pyrites with various organic substances in closed crucibles. Description of the process of manufacture on a large scale as well as of furnaces is however wanting. Fortunately the old indigenous process of manufacturing copper from pyrites still continues in several places in Rajputana, Sikkim and Nepal and from the description of these processes as left by several observers about a century ago we get some idea of the process and furnaces as might have existed in ancient India. The pyrites after proper roasting was heated with charcoal and flux in small blast furnaces, the blast being provided by hand bellows.

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As references have been profusely given in the body of the monograph no separate bibliography is necessary. The dates of alchemical works such as Rasaratnākar, Rasārnava and Rasaratna-samuchchya are taken here as given by Dr. P. C. Rāy in his History of Hindu Chemistry. I have to thank Dr. Spooner, Superintendent of Archaeology, Bengal, for his permission to photograph the copper bolt of the Rampurwa Asoka-Pillar and also to the authorities of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for permission to reproduce Plates I and VI from their Journal. My acknowledgments are also due to the editor of the Indian Antiquary for reproduction of Plates II, III, IV from the Indian Antiquary of 1905 and 1907.

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RAJSHAHI, August, 1917.

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P. NEOGI.

Chapter I. Earliest Times

The Vedic Age (Circa 2000 B.C.—1000 B.C.)

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In the author's monograph entitled *Iron in Ancient India* abundant evidence has been put forward to show that iron was known to the Aryan Hindus from the earliest Vedic times, and as time went on, the Hindus perfected their metallurgical skill in working iron to such an extent that they produced the famous Delhi Pillar in the fifth century A.D. the gigantic Orissan beams, the Dhar Pillar, the Mount Abu Pillar and other notable iron monuments in later centuries. During the Moghul rule India was still a rich iron producing country as could easily be learnt from the numerous wrought iron guns and cannon of enormous calibre still existing throughout India. India again undoubtedly produced the steel from which the famous Damascus blades were made in the middle ages. In fact the history of manufacture of iron in ancient India is almost unique in the annals of the world's metallurgy of iron. After the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, European iron of a superior quality began gradually to supplant the indigenous product until as at present it wholly dominates the Indian market. But it should be remembered that before that time India was always a rich iron producing country from very early times.

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It stands to reason that proficiency of a nation in working metals cannot remain confined to one metal, and judging from the present potential minerological richness of the Indian soil it can easily be presumed that the ancient Indians were equally conversant with other metals besides iron. So far as copper is concerned, its manufacture by indigenous people and methods is at present confined to a handful of low-class and aboriginal people here and there in mountain fastnesses, but the main industry passed away several centuries ago, and copper from over-seas now completely dominates the Indian market as in the case of iron. Whilst studying the history of Indian metallurgy of any one of the metals the student or the reader will have to divorce himself from the existing circumstances and transport himself to a remote past, rich in memories of ancient greatness, not only in religion and philosophy but also in science and literature, arts and industries. The author has been convinced of the greatness of the iron industry in ancient and mediaeval India, and as regards copper, though copper is a less useful metal than iron in the sense that its chief use lies principally in coinage and making alloys like brass and bronze, existing literary and archaeological evidence points to the fact that India produced copper from the earliest times down to the seventeenth century. The history of copper is much the same as that of iron, though perhaps India produced iron on a much larger scale than copper possibly owing to geological causes—the history of the rise, development and final extinction of an industry through known and unknown causes inherent to gradually decadent national vitality.

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We would now proceed to discuss the existing literary and other evidences from the earliest epoch of Aryan civilisation in India viz. the Vedic Age.

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Copper has not been mentioned in the Rig-veda, the earliest of the Vedas. It has, however, been mentioned in the White Yajurveda as *loha* (from *lohita* or red) in a list of six metals.¹ That the word *loha* here unmistakably refers to copper is shown by the fact that this identical passage has been repeated in the Taittirya Samhitā and also in the Maitriyāni Samhitā with this difference that in the last named Samhitā the word *loha* has been replaced by the word *lohitāyas* or “red metal” meaning evidently copper.

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¹ हिरण्यं च मे अयसं मे श्यामं च मे लोहं च मे मोसं च मे लपु च मे वज्रं कश्यन्ताम्—White Yajur Veda, XVIII, 13.

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In the Atharvaveda, the last of the Vedas (being composed at Circa 1000 B.C.), copper continues to be designated as the red metal (*lohita*). In Atharva, XI, 3, 7, *lohitamaya* has been used in contrast to *śyāmamaya* or black metal, evidently iron.¹ In Atharva, VI, 141, 2, a knife made of “red metal” has been mentioned.² In addition to the word *lohita*, the modern equivalent of copper viz. *tāmra* occurs in one passage (Atharva, X, 2, 11)³ which has been translated by Whitney simply as “red” but by Griffiths as “Copper-hued.” It is doubtful if the word really meant copper, as we find that in the Brāhmans composed later than the Atharvaveda copper continues to be designated as *lohita* or *lohitāyas*. The word *tāmra* for copper appears to have become current in the 3rd century B.C. as it occurs in the ancient medical treatises of Charaka and Sushruta as well as in Kautilya’s Arthasāstra.

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¹ श्या मवोऽस्य नांमानि लोहितमस्य लोहितम्—“Dark metal its flesh, red it blood” (Whitney) Whitney comments that they are doubtless iron and copper respectively.

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² लोहितेन स्वधितिना—“With the red knife. The red knife is doubtless of copper” (Whitney).

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³ लोहिनीस्तावधवा—“ruddy, red, dark” (Whitney)—“red, copper-hued and purple” (Griffiths).

The Brāhman Age (Circa 1000 B.C.—500 B.C.)

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In the Brāhman Age copper continues to be designated, as has already been pointed out, as the “red metal.” The word *lohitāyas* occurs in the Taittiriya Samhitā (IV, 7, 5, 1) as distinguished from *śyāma* or “black metal.”⁴ It also occurs in the Maitrāyni Samhitā (II, 11, 5 and IV, 44) and in the Kathaka Samhitā (XVIII, 10).

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⁴ हिरण्य च मे &c. with the exception that *lohitāyas* is used in the place of *loha*

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Its other variant *loha* occurs in the Satapatha Brāhman (XIII, 2, 2, 18). Chhāndogya Upanishad (IV, 17, 7, and VI, 1, 5)¹ and Jaimini Upanishad Brāhman (IV, 1, 4).

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¹ लवणेन सुवर्णे संदध्यात् सुवर्णेन रजतेन, लघु, लपुपुण सीसं, सीसेन लोहं, लोहेन दारू चर्मणा--Chhāndogya Upanishad, IV, 17, 7. एकेन लोहमनिना सव्वं लोह मयं विज्ञानं स्यात् एकेन नसनिकृन्ततेन सव्वं कार्यवयं विज्ञातस्यात्--Chhāndogya Upanishad, VI, 1, 5.

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The third variant *lohāyas* is mentioned in the Satapatha Brāhman (V, 4, 1, 2) where it is distinguished from *ayas* and gold. It also occurs in the Jaimini Upanishad Brāhman (III. 17, 3) in contrast to *Karsnāyas* and in the Taittiriya Brāhman (III, 62, 6, 5) in opposition to *Krishnāyas* meaning "black metal" or iron.²

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² Macdonell & Kieth, *Vedic Index*.

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In all these passages the sense of copper is extremely clear.

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From the consideration of the foregoing passage in the Vedas and the Brāhmans relating to copper, it appears that copper was possibly unknown to the early Aryans at the time when the Rigveda was written (circa 2000 B.C.) as it is not mentioned in it. The Rigveda, however, makes copious mention of two metals, gold and iron, in which, it is to be noted, India has been pre-eminently rich in all ages.³ As copper is mentioned once in the White Yajurveda, which was composed later than the Rigveda, it is apparent that it was known at the time when the Yajurveda was written, though from the frequent mention of copper in the Atharvaveda (1000 B.C.) and the Brāhmans it can easily be surmised that copper came into general use amongst the early Aryans at about 1000 B.C.

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³ As regards Indian iron see author's *Iron in Ancient India*,

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Enough evidence has been adduced in the author's *Iron in Ancient India* (pp. 3-7) to show that the use of iron and iron weapons was well-known at the time when the Rigveda was composed not to speak of the times of the later Vedas and the Brāhmans. The general use of copper by the first Aryan settlers appears to be distinctly later as it is not mentioned in the earliest of the Vedas. In the Rigveda we find that arrows were "tipped with iron" though we come across with a "copper knife" (p. 7) in the Atharvaveda. It is possible that a copper knife, owing to the peculiar sanctity, attached by the Hindus to copper, might have been used in the sacrifices. Even taking it for granted for the sake of argument that the mention of a copper knife in the Atharvaveda presupposes the use of copper as a material for making weapons, there is hardly anything to be wondered at this, as, so long as the process of hardening iron by quenching or the process of steel-making is not discovered there is not much to choose between malleable iron and copper, though bronze would certainly be more preferable to copper being in point of hardness more approachable to iron. Bronze does not appear to have been known in the Vedic Age¹ and as a matter of fact there was no bronze age in India at all (see bronze). The process of hardening iron by quenching, as well as steel were certainly discovered in India as early as the third century B.C. as both are mentioned in the well-known medical treatise of Sushruta and it is possible that during the Vedic age, in addition to iron, copper might have sometimes been used as a material for making weapons.

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¹ As both copper and tin are not mentioned in the Rig Veda, Macdonell and Kieth's contention that "ayas" in the Rig Veda means "bronze" is untenable.

The Epic Age (Circa 500 B.C.—200 B.C.)

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In the Epic Age the knowledge of copper had much advanced and we find copper designated by its modern name tāmra which occurs in the two Epics. The law-giver Manu in his Institutes gives directions for the purification of copper utensils.² Brass and bronze vessels are also referred to in the same passage. Copper finds a place amongst the six metals in the medical work of Sushruta. The other medical treatise Charaka Samhitā composed at the same time mentions brass besides copper and bronze.

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² ताम्राय; कांस्यैत्त्यानां त्रपुण: सीसकस्य च । योचं यथार्हत्तव्यं काराप्रोद कवारिभि: । Manu, V, 114.

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Copper is mentioned in many places in Kautilya’s Arthashāstra (3rd century B.C.) which mentions the ores of copper as heavy and green, grey and red in colour probably meaning thereby malachite, pyrites and red copper ore.¹ The Arthashāstra also mentions the use of copper in making alloys and in gold and silver coins and articles. It further describes the process of gilding by “covering the copper article with gold leaf and then polishing its outer surface and sides.”

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¹ भारिकस्निग्धो मृदुश प्रस्तरधातुर्भूमिभागो वा पिङ्गमलो हरित पाटलो लोहितो वा तास्यधातु--Kautilya’s Arthashāstra, edited by Shama Sāstrī, p. 83.

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From the accounts left behind by the Greek ambassador Megasthenes who visited India in 302 B.C. we learn how “vessels of Indian copper set with precious stones contributed to the brilliancy of the public ceremonies during Chandra Gupta’s reign.” From Megasthenes’ account of the court of Chandra Gupta and also from the big copper bolt discovered in the Asoka pillar near the frontiers of Nepal we can unhesitatingly say that the output of copper was quite considerable in India as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C. As we have come to historical times we shall not have the necessity of confining ourselves to purely literary evidence but would be able to produce before the readers many ancient specimens of copper from the 3rd century B.C. onwards. Before doing so we would turn our attention to the consideration of an important question, viz., whether there was a copper age in Ancient India. As the question is an important one we would discuss it in a separate chapter.

Chapter II

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India evidently had no bronze age, as bronze implements are scarcely to be found. So far as Southern India is concerned it is an admitted fact that the Neolithic period, during which time stone implements and weapons were used, passed directly into the iron age, as no copper or bronze weapons have been found in Southern India. Old cromlechs in various parts of Southern India have been found to contain iron weapons.¹ The southern bronzes of pre-historic times, as will be described later on, were objects used for ornamental purposes and do not include weapons. In Northern India, however, including the Central Provinces, copper tools and weapons have been discovered in several places besides two in Beluchistan which may be regarded archaeologically as a part of India. Mr. Vincent A. Smith in an excellent paper describes these interesting finds and concludes that "in the greater part of Northern India a copper age intervened between the Neolithic period and iron age."¹ We would examine his theory later on and in the meantime a short description of these implements will prove intersting.

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¹ "Weapons and other objects made of iron are found abundantly in many parts of India in stone circles or associated with cromlechs and other stone monuments, many of which appear to be of great antiquity and to have been erected by tribes long since extirpated or driven from the country. The erection of rude stone monoliths is still practised by some of the wilder tribes, so that the date of such erections is in many cases doubtful. There can be little, if any, question, however, that many of the stone circles of Central Provinces and the 'Korumba ringa' of Southern India date from a period previous to the Aryan immigration, and they were possibly contemporaneous with the very similar remains found in Europe and Central Asia. In Europe, however, stone circles and cromlechs are considered characteristic of the bronze age, whereas in India iron implements have been found associated with them in several places, amongst others near Nagpur in the Wardha district, near Ferozabad and Sonapur, east of Hydrabad in the Deccan in Muisur (Mysore) and Kurg (Coorg), on the Nilgiri Hills, in Malabar, Coimbatore, Salem and Tinnevelly. It appears not improbable that iron may have been discovered in India at an earlier period than in Europe"--Medlicott and Blanfords Geology of India, Part 1, p. 443.

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¹ Vincent A. Smith, "On the copper age and pre-historic bronze implements of India," Indian Antiquary 1905, Vol. XXXIV, p. 229. Supplement to the above, Indian Antiquity, 1907 Vol. XXXVI, pp. 53.

Copper Implements Discovered in Gunjeria

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"The most important discovery of instruments of copper yet recorded in the Old World", as Evans puts it in his Ancient Bronze Implements, was made by some shepherd boys who, while tending cattle in the village of Gunjeria in the district of Balaghat in the Nagpur Division of the Central Provinces, observed a piece of red metal peeping out of earth in a plot of waste land. On receipt of this news in 1870 Mr. Bloomfield, Deputy Commissioner of Balaghat, had the place excavated and as many as 424 copper implements and weapons and 102 pieces of thin silver plates were discovered in one place measuring about three feet in length, three feet in breadth and four feet in depth. The discovery of this remarkable find was announced at the May meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1870.²

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² Bloomfield, Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; 1870, p. 131.

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The weight of the copper implements was 10 maunds 14 seers (about 826 lbs.) and that of the silver pieces 1 seer and 1/4 tola (about 2 lbs.). The copper implements were mostly celts, shovels, axe-blades, spades, &c. manufactured for warlike, domestic and agricultural purposes. The copper implements were of different sizes, the longer pieces being 24 3/4", 21 1/2", 17 1/2" long and variously broad by 6 1/2", 4" or 3". They were mostly 1/4" thick. Mr. Bloomfield presented 8 pieces of these silver discs Prehistoric copper implements discovered in Gunjeria. Central Provinces. (Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870).

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0.1 1.a 1.a' 0.13 1.b 1.b' 0.09 1.c 1.c' 0.21 2.a 2.a' 0.19 3.a 0.26 3.b 3.c' 0.23 3.c

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and 17 copper implements to the Asiatic Society and these have now been kept in the Archaeological Department of the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

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The copper implements were packed in regular layers with the silver objects lying in mass on one side. They appear to have never been put to use. It has been surmised that the place marks the site of a treasure house in which these articles were kept for safety. It is more likely, however, that there was a depot at that place in which these goods were stored for sale. Mr. Vincent A. Smith contends that this large collection of copper implements "affords conclusive evidence that at one time the manufacture of implements of pure copper was conducted in India on an extensive scale. It is impossible that more than four hundred such implements should have been collected in a single deposit unless they were of a kind in common ordinary use."

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There is no doubt that the implements are made of pure copper and not bronze. Mr. A. Tween has analysed them and found the metal to be pure copper mixed with only 1½ per cent lead. The silver was also pure, being contaminated with only 3.7 per cent gold.

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As regards other finds of copper implements in ancient India they may be summarised in the accompanying list as given by Mr. Smith. Most of these implements have been analysed and found to be made of pure copper. They may be conveniently divided into flat celts, bar celts, swords and daggers, harpoon or spear heads and arrow heads.

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*Ancient Indian Copper Implements*

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| Locality | Contents of find |
| 1. Rajpur, Bijnor district, United Provinces. | 16 objects—9 flat celts, 1 long bar celt, 6 barbed spear or harpoon heads. |
| 2. Mathura | 1 copper flat celt, it is said that harpoon or spear heads were found. |
| 3. Mainpuri | 2 flat celts, 1 barbed harpoon head, 1 set of rings. |

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4. Fatehgarh 13 swords, 1 human figure.
5. Niori, Itawah District 1 harpoon head and 1 sword.
6. Bithur, Cawnpore District 2 flat celts, 3 harpoon heads.
7. Kosam, Allahabad District. 1 flat celt.
8. Parior, Unao District “A large number” of harpoon heads.
9. Saurajuri, Midnapur District 1 flat celt
10. Karharhari, Pachamba Subdivision, Hazaribagh District 3 unfinished flat celts and two pieces of unwrought copper
11. Bhagotoro, Karachi District, Sindh 1 flat celt
12. and 13. Kohistan Hill near Soorag and Tank in Beluchistan Arrow-heads associated with silver bracelet.

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Many new copper implements have, however, been discovered after Mr. Smith prepared his list. In a recent paper Pandit Hirānanda Sāstri gives an account of some additional copper implements discovered in Northern India specially at Bithur in the Cawnpore District.¹ Three copper hatchets about 7" long and 4¾" broad have been found in the temple of Bava Gudardās Uttam Dās in Bithur which resemble those already described by Mr. V. A. Smith. One similar specimen, though smaller, is lying in the sanctuary of Rādhākrishna at Bithur. Two additional copper hatchets have been found at Parior.

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¹ Journ. As, Soc. Beng., 1915, XI, pp. 1-5.

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Mr. Ortel has obtained four fine copper specimens from Bithur—one of them being a spear-head weighing about 1 lb 9 oz., the second a hatchet weighing 2lbs 5 oz., the third a sword resembling the Fatehgarh swords in the Calcutta Museum and the fourth a small hatchet. Pandit Shāstri has secured four additional copper implements, two being harpoon heads and two hatchets. They have been chemically analysed and found to be made of copper and not bronze. In addition to these, ten more copper implements from the Bulandshar and Hardoi districts—one of them being an axe-blade, two swords, one hatchet and the remainder celts—have been collected in the Lucknow Provincial Museum.

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In addition to these, quite a large number of copper implements has recently been discovered in different parts of Behar and Orissa and described in the the journal of the Behar and Orissa Research Society. Dr. A. Campbell describes 27 specimens of copper axe-heads in the Manbhum district of which he got possession of twentyfour. They were found by digging in the stretch of country between the hills running almost due east from Paresnath to Pokhuria in the north of the Dhanbad Subdivision and the Barakar river. A dozen of these magnificent specimens were dug up in a lot about a foot below the surface of the earth by coolies engaged in making the road going from the village of Kolher to the boundary of the Hazaribagh District. Regarding the method of construction of these axe-heads Dr. Campbell writes “the method of manufacturing these axe-heads seems to have been to run the metal into a mould, of the shape of but thicker and smaller than, the finished article. It was then beaten out to the required thickness. This appears to me to account for the variety of the shape of those that have been found. A little difference in the thickness of the cast in the mould or else the metal beaten irregularly would result in the slight differences in shapes which exist. I possess one of these rough castings.”¹

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¹ Dr. A. Campbell, “Note on the occurrence of copper celts in Manbhum,” Journal of the Behar and Orissa Research Society, 1916, 85-6.

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Mr. J. Coggin Brown describes a copper celt found in the Palamau District which he describes as a fine specimen, 18.5 cm. long and 15.4 cm. wide across the widest portion. Its greatest thickness, was 2.3 cm. It seems to have been roughly cast and then beaten into its present shape. The form is a very primitive one and closely imitates a well-known stone model. It is related to certain flat forms from the Gunjeria hoard.¹

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¹ J. Coggin Brown, Journ. B. & O. Res. Soc., 1915. 125-6.

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Twenty-one copper axes were excavated in a place in the Bassia Thana of the Ranchi District of which two are described by Mr. Coggin Brown.² They were similar to the Palamau celt and evidently similarly manufactured.

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² Ibid, p. 127.

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The Mayurbhanja State in Orissa has supplied its quota in respect of ancient copper implements in the shape of 3 double-edged copper battle-axes which have been collected by Mr. Cobden Ramsay, Political Agent, Feudatory States of Orissa. They were found with 6 or 7 similar pieces on the bank of the Gulpha River in the village of Bhagra Pir in the Mayurbhanja State. The large axe was 18½" in length and 15¾" in breadth and the two others were 10" by 8¼" and 10½" by 7" respectively in dimensions. The first two were about 1/8" and the third 1/20" thick.³

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³ Ibib, 1916, 386.

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The discovery of these numerous copper implements in different parts of Behar and Orissa, besides affording more conclusive evidence in favour of a copper age in ancient India supplies a missing link in the names of countries in Northern India where copper implements have been found. Behar and Orissa were originally represented in the list of places mentioned by Mr. Vincent A. Smith where copper implements were discovered by "3 unfinished flat celts and two pieces of unwrought copper" found in the Pachamba Subdivision of the Hazaribagh District but now more than fifty well-finished copper implements have been discovered in various parts of the two provinces. The evidence adduced by Mr. Smith in favour of a copper age in Northern India has been materially strengthened by the finds in the United Provinces described by Mr. Shāstri and in the new discoveries in Behar and Orissa. Almost all countries throughout Northern India down to certain parts of the Central Provinces in the south are now well-represented in the list of places where a copper age undoubtedly intervened between the stone and the iron age.

Date of the Copper Age in India

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We would now proceed to consider the question of the probable date of the copper age in India. Two hypotheses are possible—either these implements were used by the Aryan conquerers or they were used by the original inhabitants of India who were ultimately conquered by the Aryans and gradually brought to the Aryan fold.

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Regarding the first hypothesis it has already been pointed out that the Aryans were acquainted with the use of iron (ayas) from the time of their earliest habitation in the Punjab as it is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, the earlist of the Vedas, and according to Max Mueller, the earliest composition of any nation in the world. On the other hand copper (loha) came into general use amongst the Aryans much later (about 1000 B.C.) as it is frequently mentioned in the Atharvaveda and the Brāhmans but not in the Rigveda. Having known the use of iron it is not very likely that the ancient Aryans used copper as an ingredient for making implements to an appreciable extent. Though a copper knife is mentioned in the Atharvaveda it is likely that owing to the peculiar sanctity attached to copper, a copper knife might have been used in sacrificial rites. It is therefore very likely that the copper implements discovered in ancient India were not used by the Aryans themselves.

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If these implements were not used by the Aryans, the other alternative becomes that they were used by the original inhabitants of Northern India, who passed from the Neolithic period to the iron age through an intermediate copper age before the conquest of Northern India by the Aryans who taught them the use of iron. Direct evidence in favour of this hypothesis is forthcoming.

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Mr. Vincent A. Smith has dealt with the question of the probable date of the copper age in Northern India and concludes that all the Indian copper implements are certainly extremely old and must be dated previous to 1000 B.C. Probably they are much earlier “and that the primitive celts of Northern India, which are obviously copies of Neolithic patterns, may be as old as 2000 B.C.” He further writes “the guess hazarded above as to the possible date of the northern examples has really little foundation, being largely based upon the dates assumed for Ireland.”

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But European analogies are not always very safe guides in determining questions of age relating to ancient Indian history. European analogy would suggest a bronze age to have intervened between the stone and iron ages, in India, whilst as a matter of fact there was no bronze age in India. If any guess regarding the probable date of the copper age is permissible, such hypothesis should be based mainly on internal evidence as the evolution of Indian civilization took place in a different manner from Ireland. I would venture to put forward here my own views on the subject.

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I would entirely agree with Mr. Vincent A. Smith in thinking that “in the greater part of Northern India a copper age intervened between the Neolithic period and the iron age.” Two evidences on this subject are conclusive. In the first place the wide area over which the finds of the copper implements have been distributed shows that the copper implements were used throughout the greater part of Northern India including certain parts of the Central Provinces, as the Gunjeria deposit by reason of its contents must be associated with Northern India. Secondly, this very large number of weapons including agricultural and domestic implements in the Gunjeria deposit is a conclusive proof of the fact that copper implements were largely used in Northern India at some period of her history. As Mr. Smith himself points out, the celts from Upper India found at Mathura, Bijnor, Mainpuri and Bithur are all, with one exception, of the kind known to archaeologists as ‘flat celts,’ extremely primitive in form “closely imitating common stone models and obviously referable to a period when metal was only beginning to supersede stone.” As the Aryans were undoubtedly well acquainted with at least two metals viz. gold and iron even at the time of the composition of the Rigveda, it would thus appear that the people who used these copper celts were not the Aryans but the *direct lineal descendents of the Neolithic people who inhabitated India before the Aryan conquest*. The copper age appears to have been spread over a tolerably wide interval of time, as much improvement in the technique of the construction of some of the implements as those found in the Gunjeria deposit and the spear heads would suggest.

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The question of the copper age naturally therefore resolves into the determination of the time when the Aryans conquered Northern India from its aboriginal inhabitants. That date would form the lower limit of the copper age, as the Aryans evidently taught the original inhabitants of Northern India the use of iron in the place of copper. Now in the time of the Rigveda the Aryans were in their first settlement in the Punjab on the banks of the Indus and its tributaries. "The Yajurveda introduces us not only to a geographical area different from that of the Rigveda but also a new epoch of religious and social life in India. We no more hear of the Indus and its tributaries, for the geographical data of all the rescensions of the Yajurveda point to the territory in the middle of Northern India occupied by the neighbouring people of the Kurus and Pāñchālas. It lay in the plain between the Sutlej and the Jamuna. But the conquest of Northern India appears to have been complete during the Brāhman age. In the Sathapatha Brāhman we find that "the Brāhminical system had by this time spread to the countries to the east of Madhaydesh, to Koshala with its capital Ajodhya (Oudh) and Videha (Tirhut or Northern Behar) with its capital Mithila."² Buddha who preached a religion antagonistic to Brāhminism in many respects was born in 507 B.C. and when Alexander came to invade India, the Indian troops as we learn from Herodotus had arrows tipped with iron.³ It would thus appear that by 1000 B.C. the greater part of Northern India was conquered and Aryanised and by the seventh century B.C. the Aryans begen to penetrate into Southern India. I would therefore agree with Mr. Smith, though for entirely different reasons, that all the copper implements must be dated previous to 1000 B.C. and that the most primitive forms may be as old as 1500-2000 B.C.

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¹ Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 175.

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² Ibid. 214.

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³ Rawlinson's Herodotus.

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Prehistoric copper celts and spear or harpoon heads discovered in the Bijnor district. (Indian Antiquary, 1915, p. 236).

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Prehistoric copper celts discovered at Bithur (one of them being a spear-head). (Indian Antiquary, 1907, p. 53.)

Chapter III. Ancient Specimens of Indian Copper

Copper Bolt in Asoka Pillar

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We would now pass on to the consideration of ancient specimens of copper of historical importance in which India abounds. The principal use of copper of course lies in coinage and preparation of useful alloys such as brass and bronze. Archaeological specimens, however, of pure copper are abundant in India in the shape of statues, plates, caskets and utensils which fact unmistakbly shows the use of copper in large quantities in ancient India.

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The most remarkable of these ancient specimens of copper is a big solid copper bolt found in the Rāmpurwā Asoka pillar near the frontiers of the Kingdom of Nepal. Mr. H. B. W. Garrick has presented this remarkable copper bolt to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, where it has been kept in the Archaeological Section. It was evidently employed in fastening the colossal lion-shaped stone capital to the pillar itself. The bolt is barrel-shaped in appearance slightly tapering at the two ends. It is 24½ inches long, circumference at the centre being 14 inches and at the sides about 12 inches. "The copper is exquisitely worked into shape apparently with hammer slight marks of which are still visible and altogether is a surprising piece of metal work for so early an age, for I doubt not that this bolt is the original one placed in the pillar simultaneously with its erection being so true in form".¹ The metal is pure copper and not bronze. I have seen this massive piece of copper work and would fully subscribe to the eulogium bestowed on it by Mr. Garrick.

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¹ Garrick, Report of Tours in North and South Behar 1181, Arch. Sur. Ind., Vol. XVI. p. 113 and Vincent A. Smith, Indian Antiquary, 1905, p. 239.

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The bolt appears to have been shaped by the hammer though originally made by casting copper, as the shape is quite perfect and the flat ends quite smooth. The copper implements discovered at Gunjeria also bear unmistakable signs of having been hammered and Mr. Vincent A. Smith is of opinion that they were "cast in the first instance and then finished by the hammer." Mr. Smith further writes about the Gunjeria implements "Mr. Reginald Smith pointed out to me that several of the British Museum specimens exhibit ridges which apparently indicate the line of junction of two open moulds face to face. When the two moulds had thus been applied and closed the metal was probably poured in through an aperture at the narrow end. The Pachamba or Karharhari find permits of no doubt that in Bengal roughly cast 'blooms' of copper were knocked into shape as celts by hammering. The more highly finished articles from Northern India and Gunjeria were no doubt made in regular moulds and merely finished with the hammer." There is however one argument against the hypothesis that the Gunjeria implements were made by casting which, as pointed out by Mr. Bloomfield himself, is that out of the 424 weapons "hardly two of the copper pieces are of the same size, weight or shape." This objection may be met, as Dr. Campbell has suggested, by supposing that the metal was run into mould of the shape of, but smaller and thicker than the article which was then finished by the hammer. I think this explanation is correct. From the perfect shape of the copper bolt it would appear that it was also made by first casting copper and then finishing the product with the hammer.

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As the bolt is a solid one it is very heavy. There was no arrangement at the Indian Museum to take its weight but it was so heavy that it was moved with difficulty, by two men when it was photographed.¹ Bearing in mind that this bolt was constructed as early as the third century B.C. it unmistakably testifies to the high metallurgical skill of the ancient Hindus in pre-Christian times.

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¹ A photograph of the bolt is given here perhaps for the first time. It is a matter of some surprise that no notice has hitherto been taken of this remarkable specimen of copper work of ancient India excepting a brief notice in the Report of the Archaeological survey of India.

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Copper bolt in Rampurwa Asoka pillar (Photograph by the author).

Colossal Copper Statues of Buddha

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A remarkable copper statue of Buddha was discovered at Sultanganj in the district of Bhagalpur in the ruins of an old Buddhist monastery. It has been taken away and now preserved in the Birmingham Museum. The attention of students of metallurgy has not been sufficiently drawn to this remarkable copper colossus, which according to the mode of its construction and owing to the discovery of a coin of the last Western satrap of Surāstra accompanied with one of Chandragupta II in the vicinity of the monastery, has been taken to be a specimen of the metallurgical skill of the ancient Hindus of the fifth century A.D.¹

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¹ Vincent A Smith, History of fine arts in India and Cyclon, p. 172.

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Dr. Rajendra Lal Mitra, who first described this Buddha statue and other articles obtained in the ruins by Mr. Harris, a Resident Engineer, East India Railway,² says that it was 7 feet 6 inches high and its weight is estimated to be nearly 1 ton. There is one very remarkable fact about it *viz.*, that the outer garment is markedly transparent so that the body proper is visible through the outer garment. Dr. Mitra in describing the process of its construction says "the material is a very pure copper cast in two layers, the inner one in segments on an earthen mould and held together by iron bands which were originally ¾ of an inch thick, but are now very much worn down by rust. The casting of the face down to the breast was effected in one piece, the lower parts down to the knee in another and then the legs, feet, hands and back in several pieces”. The outer layer of copper seems to have been cast over the inner one presumably by the *cire perdue* process. Some iconoclast had bored a hole through the breast with the object of discovering treasure inside, but this process led to the discovery of nothing beyond the mould on which the figure had been cast. The substance of this mould looks like a friable cinder. Originally it consisted of a mixture of sand, clay, charcoal and paddy husks.

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² Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1864, p.

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³⁶⁰ This statue has been referred to by Mr. Vincent A. Smith in his History of fine arts in India and Ceylon, p. 171 and 172; Cunningham in Arch. Sur. Ind. Reports Vol. X, p. 127 and XV, p. 126; Anderson, Cotalogue of the Indian Museum, Part II, p.

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⁴⁸¹ Mr. Smith points out that in the draft illustrated Handbook of the Birmingham Museum the statue is wrongly described as made of bronze.

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In the list of other articles found in the vicinity, as given by Dr. Mitra, we find the hand of another large copper figure and three small standing Buddha figures of copper. Lumps of copper ore were also found suggesting that the smelting and casting operations were done on the spot.

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Two facts are of metallurgical interest in connection with this remarkable figure. In the first place the virtual transparency of the outer copper garments reflects the greatest credit on the Hindu copper workers of the 5th century. In the second place the date naturally reminds one of the celebrated iron pillar at Delhi which was also constructed in the 5th century. This colossal copper statue and the Delhi iron pillar jointly serve to show that by the 5th century A.D. the ancient Hindus attained remarkable skill in smelting and working different metals. Moreover it is apparent that the production of iron and copper in India at that time was quite considerable.

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The same fact is borne out by another gigantic copper colossus of Buddha image, *no less than 80 feet in height*, described by the celebrated Chinese traveller Hiuen-Tsiang who actually saw it standing upright towards the east of the great Nalanda convent¹. Hiuen-Tsiang asserts that “a pavillion of six stages is required to cover” this gigantic copper colossus which in dimensions would approach the bronze colossus of the Rhodes Island. It was the work of Raja Purnavarman, the last descendant of king Asoka, a king of the seventh century.¹ The Rhodes colossus was destroyed by lightning, but history does not record the manner in which this less-known wonder of the world has gone out of sight from India. At any rate this gigantic colossus deserves special mention in the world's history of metallurgy of copper as a very remarkable specimen of copper work of the seventh century.

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¹ Beal’s Buddhist Records, ii, 174; Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by Shaman Hwui Li translated by Beal, p. 119.

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¹ Beal, Buddhist Records ii, 118, 174; Waters, 115. Nalanda has been indentified with the village of Baragaon which lies seven miles north of Rajgir in Behar.

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Colossal copper statue of Buddha discovered at Sultangunj. (Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1864).

Copper Coins

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The principal use of copper for state purposes is certainly its use in coinage. In Kautilya's Arthashāstra we find that copper was used not only in copper coinage but also as an alloy in the coins of the noble metals as well. Copper was used in coinage in India from pre-Christian times. Some of the earliest Indian copper coins are those of the Indo-Greek and Bactrian Kings, such as Euthydemos, king of Bactria (230 B.C.) and Demetrios, king of the North-Western frontier of India (200 B.C.). The punch-marked copper coins such as those of the old Mitra Dynasty of Ajodhya and many other kings of Northern India, are also some of the earliest copper coins known in ancient India (first century B.C.). Copper coins of the Kushana kings such as Kanishka (first century A.D.) and the Gupta kings have also been found in many places. In Central and Southern India copper coins of the Andhra and Kshatrapa Dyansties are amongst the earliest. It is needless to enumerate the later copper coins as copper has ever continued to be one of the three principal metals employed for coinage.

Copper Mints

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The location of mints in which copper used to be coined would be of interest. The Ayeen Akbari says that gold coins were struck "first in the capital Agra, second Bengal, third Ahmedabad in Guzarat, and fourth in Kabul. Silver and copper besides being coined at the four above-mentioned places are also struck in ten other cities viz, Illhabad, Agra, Owjani, Surat, Dekhy, Patna, Cashmeer, Lahore, Multan and Tandah and only copper in the following 28 places viz., Ajmeer, Owedh, Attock, Allore, Badawar, Benares, Behkar Behret, Pulten, Jowhpoor, Jalundhar, Seharungpoor, Sarungpur, Sembehe, Kennaja, Rehutone, Herdewar, Hissar, Feerozeh, Calpee, Gualiar, Gorruckpur, Kelower, Lucknow, Mundow, Nagore, Sirhind, Secalhoote and Serownj.”¹ In Akbar’s time the price of one maund of copper was 1044 *dams* or *pysahs* (in value the fortieth part of a rupee) or about 24 rupees, and out of one maund of copper one seer was burnt out during minting and 1170 *dams* were coined.²

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¹ Gladwin’s Ayeen Akbari, Vol 11 p. 38.

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² Ibid., p. 40.

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Dr. G.P. Taylor³ has compiled an interesting table of Indian mints during the rule of the Moghul Emperors “commencing with the accession of Babar in 1525 A.D. and closing with the deposition of Bahadur (Shah) in the fateful year of the Mutiny,” from which the following list of places in which copper coins used to be minted has been compiled.⁴ It is to be noted that mints for coining copper coins existed in every considerable town throughout India during the Moghul period.

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³ G.P. Taylor, “the mints of the Moghul Emperors of India” (Journ.. Bomb. Roy. As. Soc., 1905, pp. 411-436).

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⁴ The names of places marked with an (*) are those in which silver coins were coined along with copper ones and with an (†) are those in which both gold and silver coins were coined in addition to copper.

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| Ahmadnagar† | Atak Banaras* | Bharatpur* | Chunar* |
| Adogam | Aurangabed | Bijapur† | Dadar |
| Agra† | Awad* | Buidraban | Damta |
| Ahmadabad† | Azimabad† | Bunch | Delhi† |
| Ajmir† | Bahraich | Burhanabad† | Dhar |
| Akbarabad† | Bairat* | Burhanpur | Elichpur* |
| Akbargarar† | Banaras | Champanir | Farrukhabad* |
| Akbarpur* | Bandarshahi | Chhachrauli | Farrukhnagar |
| Alwar* | Baroda* | Chitor* | Fathpur† |
| Amirkot | Bhakkar* | Chitrakut | Ferozpur |

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Gobindapur Gorakpur Gulburga Gwaliort Hafizabad* Haidarabad† Hasanabad Hisar* Illahabad† Illahabas Indrapur Islamabad† Ismailgarh Jahangirnagart Jaipurt

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