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Copper in Ancient India c8: Chapter III. Ancient Specimens of Indian Copper

Copper in Ancient India c8

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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The bolt appears to have been shaped by the hammer though originally made by casting copper, as the shape is quite perfect and the flat ends quite smooth.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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Jalalnagar Jaunpurt Jhansi Jodhpur* Kabult Kachrauli Kalpi* Kanan Kashmir Katak* Khairpur Kharpur Kiratpur Lahort Laknau

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Machlipattamt Madankot Malpur Mandu Mangarh Manghir Manikpur Mirath Multant Muninabad* Muzaffarnagar Nahan Narnol* Patnat Peshwart

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Qanauj Qandahar Saharanpur* Sambal Sarhind† Shajanabad Sherpur Sholapurt Siroui* Surat† Tattat Udaipur* Ujjain Urdu Zafarquarint Walijacad.

Method of Copper Coinage

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Regarding the early methods of coinage adopted in India, the punch-marked coins were evidently small flat ingots marked irregularly by small punches of various patterns applied at different times. Others were struck with a die. Princep writes "the great analogy which is observed between the earliest Indian coins and those of the Macedonian colonists is a very strong argument in favour of the supposition that die-cutting was introduced in India at that period". In later centuries copper coins were evidently prepared by first casting molten copper in suitable moulds in order to make them uniform in shape and then struck between dies. Mr. Henry Cousens while exploring the ruins of the old town of Mansura, the first Arab capital in Sindh when it was conquered by the Mahomedans in the ninth century found a number of copper coins which were evidently struck at Mansura itself together with heaps of honey-combed baked clay slabs. Mr. Cousens writes "these clay

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1. The names of places marked with an (*) are those in which silver coins were coind along with copper ones and with an (†) are those in which both gold and silver coins were coined in addition to copper.
2. Princep's Eassys on Indian Antiquities, edited by Thomas, Vol. 1, p. 55.

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slabs or cakes are about half to three-fourths of an inch thick upon one side of which are impressed rows of little cup-like hollows, forming a regular honey comb pattern, while the lower sides have been subjected to great heat and are verified. The honey-combing I have found in three-sizes, the hollows in the largest being about seven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. These puzzled me when I found them first at Bhambor, a ruined site near one of the mouths of the Indus upon a small heap at one corner; but upon finding near them both at that place and Brahmanabad (afterwards Mansura) not only copper coins but little pellets of copper which fitted them, the real use of these clearly marked tablets became apparent. I also found many fragments with small lumps of verdigris (sub-acetate of copper) adhering to the edges of the little cells. They were no doubt connected with the coining apparatus of the Arabs. I take it that these slabs of clay were first heated upon a furnace to prevent the sudden chilling of the copper poured into them, and when filled and all surplus copper run off, each hollow contained a pellet of uniform size and weight. These were then placed between the dies and struck by a heavy hammer”.¹

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¹ Henry Cousens, Arch. Surv. Ind., Annual Report, 1903-4, p. 137.

Copper Plates

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Another use of copper in ancient India was in the preparation of copper plates usually for the purpose of making land grants by kings to Brahmins and others. These copper plates, as is well-known, together with ancient coins, are the most authentic sources of the all-but-forgotten history of ancient Hindu India. The author has seen many of these copper plates which are generally made of pure copper, some of them weighing several pounds. One of the earliest copper plate is the Sohgaura plate discovered in the village of Sohgaura, district Gorakhpur in the United Provinces, the inscription being in Maurya Brāhmi characters of 320-230 B.C. The metal of the plate, however, seems to be an alloy of copper. The Sue Vihar inscription of Kanishka (first century A.D.) and the Taxila plates are also amongst the earliest of copper plates discovered in Northern India.¹ Sometimes the inscriptions are engraved on several plates or sheets of copper and Mr. Vincent A. Smith writes "the length of individual inscriptions is illustrated by the fact that an important record recently brought to light (in Southern India) is engraved on *thirtyone sheets of copper fastened together on a massive ring.*"² These copper plates appear to have been in general use amongst kings up to the thirteenth century in Northern India; but several copper plates dated so late as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries appear in the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

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¹ A catalogue of copper plates in the Asiatic Society of Bengal has been published by Mr. R.D. Banerjee, Journal of As. Soc. Beng., 1910,485.

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² Early History of India, p. 405.

Copper Utensils

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It has already been pointed out that such an ancient medical authority as Shusruta mentions the use of copper utensils.

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Manu also mentions the use and purification of copper vessels. Megasthenes mentions that "vessels of Indian copper set with precious stones contributed to the brilliancy of the public ceremonies during Chandra Gupta's reign." Copper vessels from ancient times have been held by the Hindus to be sacred and almost all utensils meant for use in religious ceremonies such as *Jajnas* and *pujāhs* are invariably made of copper even at the present day. Even archaeological specimens of ancient copper utensils are available. One remarkable ancient copper *ghoti* or *lotā* was found by Major Hay in 1857 in the village of Kundla in the Kangra district, Punjab. It has been described by Sir George Birdwood in his *Industrial Arts of India* referred to by Mr. Vincent A. Smith in his 'History of Fine Arts in India and Ceylon.' The vessel looks like a modern *lotā*, but there is an inscribed scene running round it which represents Prince Siddhārtha (afterwards Buddha) going in a royal procession in a chariot drawn by four horses accompanied by horses, elephants and musicians. From the mode of the inscription of this legend Birdwood regards the vessel to be a specimen of copper-work of the 3rd century A.D, but Mr. Vincent A. Smith regards it to be a specimen of the first century B.C. At any rate this copper lotā is an authentic ancient specimen of Hindu art in copper utensil-making.

Copper Caskets

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Copper was also used in ancient India in the shape of caskets for the preservation of relics inside the foundations of stupas and monasteries. One of the earliest copper caskets is the newly discovered casket of king Kanishka near Peshwar. The metal however, is not pure copper but an alloy of the same metal. Several such ancient copper caskets have been discovered.

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From the foregoing account of the ancient specimens of copper articles found in different parts of India it is evident that copper was used in ancient India at least from 1000 B.C. in a variety of ways. The discovery of the Gunjeria find of copper weapons weighing as much as one third of a ton bespeaks of considerable production of copper in India in pre-Christian times. The discovery of the big copper bolt in the Rāmpurwa Asoka pillar of the 3rd century B.C. lends confirmation to the same story. As time went on, the production of copper in India seems to have been on the increase, as the colossal copper image of Buddha cast in the 5th century discovered in Sultanganj or still more the gigantic copper statue of the same deity at Nalanda no less than 80 feet high described by Hiuen-Tsiang fully testifies. Copper has ever been from the 2nd or 3rd century B.C. one of the three metals used for coinage. It found an added application in the preparation of copper plates from pre-Christian times for inscribing deeds of land grants by kings. Utensils made of copper, owing to the peculiar sanctity attached to it by the Hindus, have been used in India from remote times specially in the performance of religious ceremonies. As wires, copper and brass have from early times been used in the construction of stringed musical instruments for which India has always been famous.

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Geological evidences also point out to the native production of copper in ancient India. These will be dealt with later on, but it will be sufficient to note here that evidences of copper smelting and copper slag as well as sites of mines have been discovered in many places throughout India showing that a prosperous copper industry existed in India from pre-Christian times down to the Moghul period.

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