Copper in Ancient India c6.s3.5

c6.s3.5

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.