Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Copper in Ancient India c12: Chapter VII. Copper Mines in Ancient India

Copper in Ancient India c12

Language
English

Contents

Chapter VII. Copper Mines in Ancient India

c12.2

At this great distance of time it is almost impossible to locate precisely the places in India in which copper mines originally existed. Nevertheless the existence of copper slag in many parts of India amply testifies to the fact that copper smelting was an important industry in ancient India, though at the present moment it has fallen, as in the case of almost every other scientific industry, into the hands of the most backward communities.

c12.3

From geological and literary evidences the author has come to the conclusion that copper smelting was carried on extensively in ancient times in the Singhbhum and Hazaribagh District of Chotanagpur, in various parts of Rajputana, Nepal and some parts of Southern India though it was not unknown in other parts of the country. Copper was also imported into India from foreign countries. We would proceed to put forward the available evidences bearing on the subject, though it must be conceded that such evidences are more or less casual and not of a systematic nature.

c12.4

As regards ancient copper mining and copper slag in the Singhbhum Disirict, where an English company is still working copper mines, Ball, the well-known geologist writes—"Indications exist of mining and smelting having been carried on in this region from a very early period and the evidence available points to the Seraks or lay Jains as being the persons who, perhaps 2000 years ago, initiated the mining." Dr. Stoehr who was brought as an expert from England and on whose report the present English Company has started copper mining operations in the Singhbhum district, has in his reports borne abundant testimony to the fact that copper mining was carried there on an extensive scale in ancient times. He reported that signs of numerous mines and deposits of copper slag were abundantly visible in the hills west of Asanabani, in Badia, in Masanboni, in the hills west and north-west of Surda, in the Sideshor hills south-west of Ruma and in some other parts of the Singhbhum district.

c12.5

Turning to the *Hazaribagh* district near the Singhbhum district geological evidences point unmistakably to ancient copper mining on an extensive scale. There is a place in this district which is known as Bāragundā, “so called from the fact of its being the site of 48 (bāra-gundā) ancient copper mines.” Ball says—“the excavations which mark the position of these ancient mines are situated along a line of outcrop of metamorphic rocks which form a ridge, about three fourths of a mile long between the villages of Parsabera and Bāragundā.” He continues—“we are not in possession of any information as to who the ancients were who made the numerous excavations at Bāragundā of which ample evidence is still to be seen. These workings extended all along the outcrop and from their over-lapping in places it would appear that the deposit was not limited to one line of strike. Though in some cases the samples show that the ore occurred as a constituent of the schist, others seem to justify the conclusion that there are one or more distinct lodes parallel to the bedding.”¹

c12.6

¹ Ball’s Economic Geology of India, pp. 254, 255.

c12.7

Then as regards *Rajputana*, copper mines still exist in large numbers and are worked by Indians according to old indigenous methods. Ball gives the names of the following states in which there are old mines some of them still working—“Alwar, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Udayapur, Bundi and Bikanir.” According to Mr. Hocket there are ancient copper mines in Daribo, Indawas, Bhangarh, Kusalgarh, Beghani, Pratabgarh, Tassing and Jasingpure in Alwar state. There are ancient copper mines in Singhānā in Jaipur State situated in rocks belonging to the Aravali Mountains and also in Khetri which work pyrites in primitive furnaces and according to traditional methods using iron slag as a flux. The existence of these old copper mines and old methods gives an insight into the past metallurgical operations as practised by ancient Indians in the matter of extraction of copper from its ores.

c12.8

Col. Tod in his Rajasthan says that in the fourteenth century Raja Lakha Rana of Chittore in Rajputana discovered mines of silver and tin in the district of Jawara which also yielded besides tin and silver, copper, lead and antimony in abundance.

c12.9

Nepal has been famous for her copper in ancient times and even the old method of manufacturing copper still prevails there and in Sikkim Himalayas, an account of which was collected about fifty years ago by Mr. H.F. Blanford. We find that Nepal copper was highly prized for medical purposes in ancient India. Vrinda (9th century) in the preparation of sulphide of copper advises the use of Nepal copper. Rasaratnasamuchchaya (13th century) says "copper is of two kinds—that obtained from Nepal and that obtained from Mlechchha countries of these two kinds Nepal copper in much superior. Mlechchha copper is obtained from mines other than those in Nepal."[¹] From these and other references in all chemical treatises it appears that Nepal was famous for her copper and the product was highly pure.

c12.10

¹ म्लेच्छं नैपातकं चेति तयोर्नेपात्रमुत्तमम् । नेपादात्त्वन्यधुत्वं स्वेच्छमित्यभिधीयते ।।

c12.11

From the discovery of large quantities of copper implements at Gunjeria in the Central Provinces it would appear that in pre-historic times copper smelting was extensively carried on in the Central Provinces, for it is very unlikely, judging from the lack of facilities of transport which must have existed at such an early period of Indian civilisation, that such large quantities of copper and silver were imported either from abroad or from other parts of India though as a matter of fact such an hypothesis would be more or less a conjecture. We are however, on some solid grounds regarding the copper of the Sultangunj Buddha statue. From the copper slag and raw copper found in the vicinity it would appear that both the smelting as well as the casting operations were done in the locality.

c12.12

Hiuen-Tsiang in the course of his travels in the seventh century observed several places in India where copper and other metals were obtained. Writing about Kin-lutto, identified as the district of Kulu in the upper valley of the Biyas River, he mentions "gold, silver, copper are found here, fine drops (crystal) and native copper (teon),"¹ whilst in Brahmupura, identified by Cunningham as British Garhwal and Kumaun "the country produces teon-shih (native copper) and rock crystal."² Writing about India generally the Chinese traveller wrote "gold, silver, teon-shih (native copper), white jade, fine pearls are the natural products of the country."³ What Hiuen Tsiang exactly meant by "teon-shih" or native copper is difficult to understand. If he meant by it copper obtained in nature in the metallic condition, this natural or native copper would be important, as free copper is not frequently found in nature.

c12.13

¹ Beal's Buddhist Records, Vol. 1, p. 177.

c12.14

² Ibid, p. 198.

c12.15

³ Ibid.

c12.16

Regarding the Kumaun district it has already been pointed out that Hiuen-Tsiang in his travels wrote "the country produces native copper and rock crystals." From the Ayeen Akbari we learn that in Akbar's time there were copper mines in the Kumaun district. Sites of numerous old copper mines have been discovered here, some of which are still being worked according to old indigenous methods. Among these the Rai mine in Gangole Pargana, Sira mines in Pargana Sira, Gaul mines in patti Kharuhir were being lately worked.

c12.17

Sites of old copper mines have also been discovered in the adjoining district of Ghorwal some of which are still being worked. They are more extensive and are said to have borne a higher reputation than those of Kumaun. Amongst other places the copper mines of Dhanpur, Dhobri, Agor Sera and Pokri are the most well-known in the district. Regarding Dhobri mines, Mr. Barratt gives the following description of one of these mines¹—"The incline dipped with the ore from the outcrop on the mountain side at an angle of 10° south west. The seam of ore, for it does not appear to be a true load, was 2 ft. thick and was rich in copper pyrites and purple copper. The pyrites is said to contain 25% of copper." Mr. Barratt was of opinion that this mine with proper system could be worked profitably. "To the west of the village there are several deserted mines, the custom of the miners having been to open a new mine on the outcrop when the passages in the old ones become too intricate." Regarding Agar Sera mines "There are old mines which appear to be not much worked, owing to their depth and the badness of the ventilation." As regards Pokhri mines "This locality is in the centre of a group of mines bearing the following names: Chaumathija, Raja's Nota, Thala, Danda, Talapungla and Khorua. These mines were worked in early periods by the Gārhwal Rajas and subsequently by the Gurkhas"

c12.18

¹ Ball's Economic Geology of India, pp. 267-272.

c12.19

Not much reliable information is available regarding the existence of copper mines in Southern India. But from the discovery of large quantities of bronze and brass statue of gods and goddesses of later centuries, it is likely that copper was extracted in Southern India also from ancient times. Heyne, geologist and traveller, mentions the existence of old copper mines in the districts of Callastry, Venkatycherrry and Nellore in the Madras Presidency.² In 1797 he discovered several ancient copper mines at Agricondalah. In 1800 he discovered a large number of copper mines in the Nellore district, the locality of which was zealously hidden from him. He saw one such mine near the Eastern Ghats in a hill about 400 ft. above the level of the village. "An open gallery cut into the rock demonstrated that it had been wrought. And as the stones, which lay in abundance near it, were all tinged or overlaid with mountain green, there could be no doubt that the ore extracted had been copper.” In this connection Heyne remarked “the general use of copper or brass utensils among the natives of Hindustan and the preference given to them before all other descriptions of vessels together with the tenacity with which they adhere in every point to the custom of their fore-fathers, seems to me a very strong proof that copper has been formerly obtained in India in considerable quantity. The constant wars in which the native princes have been engaged and the consequent depopulation of this part of the country (Southern India) are probably the true causes why these mines have been so long neglected.”

c12.20

² Heyne's Tracts on India, p. 108-177.

c12.21

Turning to Akbar’s time we find mention of copper mines in the Ayeen Akbari in several parts of India. We find that in the sixteenth century copper mines existed at Byaneh and Singhaney Dadipoor in the Subah of Agra. At Burat in the same Subah were found “several copper mines, so profitable that out of a maund of ore they extract thirty-five seers of metal.”¹ We also find that in Kumaun in the Delhi Subah “there were mines of gold, lead, silver, copper orpiment and borax” and in the Subah of Lahore the sand of the Punjab rivers yielded on washing and sifting “gold, silver, copper, rowey, tin, brass and lead.”² As the references to copper mines are quite casual, it is not surprising that the book does not mention copper mines in any other part of India.

c12.22

¹ Gladwin’s Ayeen Akbari, Vol. II, pp. 37, 38 and 39.

c12.23

² Gladwin’s Ayeen Akbari, Vol. II.

c12.24

We hope we have been able to give some idea about the existence of copper mines in different parts of India in ancient times which are important as affording direct proof of the extraction of copper in ancient India. In addition it would appear that at least in Hindu period copper was also imported from foreign countries. We find in the celebrated lexicon of Amarsingha (sixth century A.D.) that copper has “mlechchha-mukhum” (मलेच्छमुख) or “obtained from malechcha or foreign countries” as a synonym. Again in Rasaratna-samuchchaya (13th century) as has already been noted, we find that copper was divided into two classes—"that obtained from Nepal and that obtained from Mlechchha countries; Mlechchha copper is obtained from mines other than those in Nepal." (p. 60.) Though it is not clear whether the word "other than those in Nepal" refers to mines in foreign countries, yet it is inconceivable that the word "mlechchha" or non-Hindu or foreign would be applied to any mine within India as early as the sixth century A.D. It would thus appear that copper was also imported from other countries to India which possibly did not produce all the copper necessary for industrial purposes.

c12.25

This fact is further borne out by the following passage in the Dhātukriyā which gives a list of places in which copper was obtained for India in the 16th century. This alchemical work mentions that copper was obtained in the following places in India viz. Nepal, Kāmrup (Gauhati), Bengal, Madaneshwar, Gangadwar, Malādri, Pābakādri, Jirnadurga and also in Mlechchha countries, in Rum, in the lands of the Feringhis (Europe) and in all mountains.² Some of the places mentioned here are difficult to identify, but it is sufficient for our purpose to note that India in the sixteenth century obtained her supply of copper from copper mines situated within her borders and also imported the commodity from foreign countries. By the sixteenth century the Portuguese (Feringhis) and other European nations began to come to India for trading purposes and it appears that copper was an article in which they had commerce with India. From the seventeenth century onwards Europe began to wake up from her slumber of intellectual atrophy of the dark middle ages and scientific research began

c12.26

1. Ibid p. 109.
2. ताम्रोनुत्पत्तिव महता मुखेनैव त्रजायते ।

c12.27

तेषां स्थानानि वक्ष्येऽहं यथातथ्येन च शृणु ।।
नेपाल कामरूपे च वङ्गले मदनेश्वरे ।
गङ्गहारे मलाद्रौ च म्लेच्छदेशे तथैव च ।।
यावकाद्रौ जीर्णदुर्गे रूमदेशे फिरङ्गके ।
ए तान्म्दितस्थानानि सर्व्वपर्व्वतके सदा ।।

c12.28

to strike roots deep in European soil. Development of industry follows scientific research as day follows the night, and within a century or two Europe gradually became the centre of advanced industrial activities, working being conducted on improved scientific methods. In India, however, the reverse reaction was in progress. The time from which Europe got a new lease of intellectual activity in all branches of human understanding, marks the period when India reached the nadir of her intellectual decadence. Industries began gradually to be relegated to the least advanced communities as being unworthy of the higher castes with the inevitable result that old methods continued in a moribund condition without any improvement which is possible only when they are conducted by intellectual people. In the meantime the European nations gradually obtained political ascendency over India and brought with them the industrial products of their own country, manufactured economically on scientific principles, which gradually supplanted the indigenous products of India. The same story is true of the Indian iron industry and would be equally true in the case of copper also. Science and enterprise would inevitably conquer markets, and it is no wonder that foreign copper and iron now completely dominate the Indian market and the indigenous methods of manufacturing these articles are now in the keeping of certain illiterate and least advanced classes of the community living in mountain fastnesses.

Ores of Copper

c12.s1.1

We would now proceed to identify the ores of copper which were used in India for smelting purposes. The principal ores mentioned in alchemical literature from which copper was extracted are *Mākshika* and *Vimala* meaning pyrites and copper glance respectively. So far as the former is concerned, two varieties of pyrites were known in India as early as the third century B.C. as Sushruta mentions two varieties of the mineral, golden and silvery. The one was originally known by the word *tāpya* as it was obtained near the Indian river Tāpi. Later on the one pyrites were designated by the word *mākshika* which was divided into two classes *hema-mākshika* (golden pyrites) and *tāramākshika (silvery pyrites), according to their respective colours evidently meaning copper and iron pyrites respectively, as copper pyrites is much more yellow than iron pyrites. Recipes are given in many alchemical works such as Rasaratnākar, Rasārnava and Rasaratna-samuchchaya for the extraction of copper from golden pyrites. But as regards their chemical composition a good deal of confusion appears to have existed even in the sixteenth century, as we find in Bhāvaprakāsh that "golden pyrites contain a little gold and the silvery pyrites a little silver."¹ It is very likely that the colours have misled many to the supposition that the two varieties of pyrites actually contained gold and silver. Mākshika is described to have been obtained in the river Tāpi and also in the land of the Kirāts, the Chinese and the Yavanas. Golden pyrites were obtained in Kanauja.

c12.s1.2

¹ किकि सवर्णसाहित्वात् खर्णमालिकमीरितम् । Bhāvaprakāsha.

c12.s1.3

As regards Vimala it is difficult to identify it, which is described to be of three varieties according to their colours—golden, silvery and bronze-like. They are described as rounded and having angles and facets and would yield copper when heated with borax and organic substances. The description would tally in many respects with copper glance, a variety of copper pyrites which does not contain iron sulphide.

c12.s1.4

The minerals malachite as well as red copper ore were known as green and red ores of copper and are mentioned in Kautilya’s Arthashāstra.

Metallurgy of Copper

c12.s2.1

A connected history of the metallurgical operations used in the extraction of copper is extremely difficult to make out, as the description of the processes of extraction of copper is extremely meagre in alchemical literature. It has already been pointed out that copper pyrites and copper glance were the two copper ores commonly mentioned in alchemical works and recipes have been given in these works for the extraction of copper from these ores. No furnaces, however, are described, the operations being conducted in crucibles. A few such recipes for the extraction of copper from *mākshika* and *Vimala* are given below:

c12.s2.2

(1) *Mākshika* or pyrites—the following recipe is given in both *Rasārnava* and *Rasaratna-samuchchaya*: “*Mākshika*, repeatedly steeped in honey, oil of the seeds of *ricinus communis*, urine of the cow, clarified butter and the extract of the bulbous root of *musa sapieutum* when gently roasted in a crucible yields an essence in the shape of copper.”¹

c12.s2.3

¹ ज्ञोट्रन्वर्व्वतत्वाभ्यां नोमूत्रेण पृतेन च । कदलोकन्नधमारेण भावितं मासिकं मुडः । नूवायी मुक्षति धातें सत्त्वं शुलनिनयं मृदु ॥ Rasārnava, VI, 12—13. Rasaratna-samuchchaya, II, 89—90.

c12.s2.4

(2) *Vimala* or copper glance—the following formula for the extraction of copper from *Vimala* is given in *Rasaratnākar*, *Rasārnava* and *Rasaratna-samuchchaya*: “*Vimala* digested with alum, green vitriol, borax and the watery liquid extracted from *moringapter*, *musa sapientum* and finally roasted in a covered crucible in combination with the ashes of *schrebera swiet*, yields an essence in the shape of *chandrārka* (literally copper of gold-like lustre).”²

c12.s2.5

² विमलं शियुतीयेन काङ्कोकासीशटंकणैः । वज्रकन्दसमानुप्तं भावितंकदलीरसैः ॥ मोज्झकवारसंयुक्तं ध्मामितं मूकभूवगम् । सत्त्वं चन्द्राकसंकायं प्रयछतिन मशय ॥ Rasaratna-samuchchaya, II, 103—4.

c12.s2.6

Another formula for extracting copper from *Vimala*, is found in *Rasaratna-samuchchaya*: “*Vimala*, rubbed with borax, the juice of *atrocarpus lakoocha* and the ash of *schrebera swiet* when roasted in a covered crucible yields an essence of the appearance of gold.”³

c12.s2.7

³ सटङ्कणकुट्ठावयपश्वङ्गच असना । पिटा सूवोटरे लिङ्गः संशोष च मिरुष्य च ॥ पट्प्रख्यकीकि नैर्द्धतो विमलः शीतसन्नभः । सत्त्वं गमति तद्युक्को रसः व्यात् स रसायनः ॥ Ibid, II, 101—2. The translation of the passages is as given in Ray’s History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. I, p. 46 and 47.

c12.s2.8

The chemical action that takes place in the processes given in the formulae mentioned above for the extraction of copper from its ores in covered crucibles is apt to be lost in the wilderness of names of various plants which evidently supply the carbon by destructive distillation when heated in covered crucibles. The carbon, borax and the alkali carbonates supply the reducing agents for the conversion of the ores into metallic copper.

c12.s2.9

It would be difficult to say whether such processes as described above were actually used on a large scale for manufacturing purposes in copper mines, though it is evident that they were used as laboratory methods on a small scale as covered crucibles are mentioned. From the existing archaeological and mineralogical evidences elaborated in previous chapters it is evident that copper was extracted in India from their ores in sufficiently large quantities from the third century B.C. when the Asoka pillar copper bolt was manufactured down to the Moghul period when large brass guns were cast, and that for that purpose the extraction must have taken place in big furnaces and not in small crucibles. Unfortunately literature on this subject has all perished by the ravages of time, and exact descriptions of the furnaces employed as well as of the metallurgical processes themselves are wanting at this great distance of time. Fortunately, however, copper smelting is still carried on in different parts of India, as has been already mentioned, in Khetri, Singhana and other places in Rajputana and in Nepal and Sikkim Himalayas, and judging from the conservatism of the people it is to be presumed that the industry was carried on for many centuries in a like manner though certainly not on such a poor scale. It has already been pointed out that the scientific and industrial spirit has been waning in India from the 12th or the 13th century, and by the middle of the 16th century the emasculation of the spirit of industry and inquiry has become almost complete owing to decadent national vitality, and most industries have in consequence gradually been relegated by that time into the hands of the illiterate and the least advanced sections of the Indian community. The metallurgical skill displayed by the ancient Indians in the forging of the gigantic iron pillars of Delhi and other places, the iron beams of Konarak, Puri and Bhubaneswar was certainly of very superior order, but descriptions of the furnaces, which were certainly of no mean dimensions, used in forging these beams and pillars and of the actual process of the extraction of iron, which must have been effected in very large quantities, have been lost in the obscurity of the distant past. Old processes, however, both of copper and iron smelting still continue, though on an infinitely smaller scale, amongst the aboriginal and the least advanced communities of India. These processes are important as relics of a bygone industry which produced in the past articles of value which still attract the unstinted admiration of competent judges and experts.

c12.s2.10

We would therefore conclude by giving short descriptions of these indigenous processes of manufacturing copper as they existed about three quarters of a century ago and in fact are still existing in India in Rajputana, Nepal and other places :—

c12.s2.11

Rajputana—Capt. Boileau in his “Gleanings in Science (Vo. III, p. 380) gives a description of the native process of manufacturing copper in Singhana as it existed in 1831 and Col. J. C. Brooke in 1864 gives an account of the same process in Khetri with diagrams and plates.¹ Their accounts may be summarised thus :—The principal ores in Singhāna and Khetri were copper pyrites. They were pounded with hammers weighing 16 to 20 lbs. on stone anvils. The crushed ores were then mixed with cow-dung, made into balls and dried in the sun. The ores were first roasted and then mixed with charcoal and iron slag as flux. There are hillocks of iron slag in these places showing that iron was also smelted here at one time in very large quantities. The furnace was made by piling on one another three or four concentric clay or fire clay cylinders with arrangement at the bottom for two nozzles of two ordinary hand bellows used for driving a blast of air. The height of a furnace would not exceed 30 or 40 inches and its external diameter 15.

c12.s2.12

¹ Col. J.C. Brooke, Journal Asiatic Soc., Beng., Vol. xxxiii, pages 519—529. For a fuller description of furnaces and process consult Percy's Metallurgy p. 390 and Ball's Economic Geology of India, p. 260.

c12.s2.13

inches. During a day of nine or ten hours 3 maunds charcoal, 2½ mds, roasted ore and 2 mds, iron slag were consumed. The slag was drawn off and the molten copper remained at the bottom and removed next day. It was then re-melted in an open furnace under a strong blast of air and then cast into ingots of refined copper.

c12.s2.14

*Sikkim Himalayas*—The description of copper manufacture in Sikkim Himalayas given by Mr. H. F. Blanford of the Geological Survey of India and quoted in Percy's Metallurgy published in 1861 does not differ materially from the description given by Col. Boilean and Col. Brooke of the Rajputana copper works. The workmen are all Nepalese who, as references in alchemical works already quoted show, were adepts in copper manufacture. Mr. Blanford's observations may be summarised thus:—

c12.s2.15

The ores are picked, crushed, powdered, subjected to several washings and then become ready for preliminary smelting. The washed ore consists of copper pyrites, mundic and gangue principally quartz and hornblened. The furnace is formed of refractory clay and is in the form of a truncated pyramid. It is generally 18 inches deep and there are arrangements at the bottom for a blast of air with two bellows consisting of inflated goat skin.

c12.s2.16

*Smelting*—The furnace is filled with lighted charcoal which is raised to its full heat and the washed ore thrown in the furnace. The bellows are worked by hand until the fused "regulus" forms a small pool at the bottom covered with a layer of fused slag. The crude metal is removed when cooled.

c12.s2.17

*Roaxling*—The crude metal is then kneaded with cow-dung into small balls, dried in the sun and roasted in a shallow furnace formed of a ring of slag cakes placed on edge.

c12.s2.18

*Refining*—The roasted metal is afterwards refined in the first furnace, charcoal completely reducing the metal. The refined copper is collected at the bottom and removed as cakes when cooled weighing four or five pounds.

c12.s2.19

The traditional Indian method of the extraction of copper is akin in principle to the modern blast furnace method of smelting copper first described by Agricola in the middle of the sixteenth century whilst writing about the working of the Mansfield copper works. The Mansfield process has been perfected by Herreshoff and others and the chemistry of the modern process is almost identical with that of the traditional Indian method. For the sake of comparison the principle of the modern method is being quoted below—"the roasted ore, mixed with coke or anthracite, and the slag from a later process, which consists chiefly of iron silicate with a little copper, is introduced at the top of the furnace, the air being forced through fuyeres. The products, which consist of 'matte' and slag accumulate in the bottom of the funace and then overflow continuously into the 'fore-hearth'. This matte is usually reduced to metallic copper in a 'converter', the resulting metal being refined in reverberatory furnaces."¹

c12.s2.20

¹ Roscoe and Scholemmer, *Treatise on Chemistry*, Vol. II, p. 499.

c12.s2.21

It would thus appear that the old Welsh or English process of copper smelting in reverberatory furnaces which requires a very large number of calcination and roasting had no counterpart in India, the Indian process being conducted in blast furnaces.

Linked texts (12)