Copper in Ancient India c8.s8: Copper Caskets
Copper in Ancient India c8.s8
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Copper Caskets
c8.s8.1
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.
c8.s8.2
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.
c8.s8.3
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.