Copper in Ancient India c8.s8.2

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.