Copper in Ancient India c10.2

c10.2

The next important alloy of copper is brass. The time when brass was first used in India has still been an open question, but if we would have recourse to archaeological evidences such a date can be fixed with a certain amount of precision. Brass articles of the 1st century B.C. or A.D. have been found on excavation of ancient stupas. General Ventura executed operations for the examination of the stupas at Mānikyālaya in 1830. Three deposits were obtained of which the third, at a depth of 64 ft., consisted of a copper box enclosing a brass cylindrical box cast and beautifully turned on the lathe. The lid of the brass casket was found on cleansing to be inscribed. From the inscriptions on the various articles of this deposit and the accompanying Indo-Scythian coins the great tope at Mānikyalaya has been identified to be a mausoleum of the Indo-Scythian King Kanishka (1st century B.C. or A.D.).¹ Another inscribed brass urn of the same date as the former has been discovered in a tope about 30 miles west of Kabul in the district of Wardak. This urn which in shape and size approaches closely the ordinary water-vessels in use in India to this day, was originally thickly gilt and its surface has in consequence remained well-preserved.² As regards coins, both brass and bronze were used in ancient India for coinage. Circular punch-marked brass coins of Dhana-deva and Arya-Varma of Ajodhya (circa 1st century B.C.) have been found.