Copper in Ancient India c6.s1.4

c6.s1.4

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Samhitā and also in the Maitriyāni Samhitā with this difference that in the last named Samhitā the word *loha* has been replaced by the word *lohitāyas* or “red metal” meaning evidently copper.