Copper in Ancient India c8.s1: Copper Bolt in Asoka Pillar
Copper in Ancient India c8.s1
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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The bolt appears to have been shaped by the hammer though originally made by casting copper, as the shape is quite perfect and the flat ends quite smooth.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).