Essay name: Minerals and Metals in Sanskrit literature
Author:
Sulekha Biswas
Affiliation: Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj University / Department of Sanskrit
This essay studies the presence of Minerals and Metals in Sanskrit literature over three millennia, from the Rigveda to Rasaratna-Samuccaya. It establishes that ancient Indians were knowledgeable about various minerals and metallurgy prior to the Harappan era, with literary references starting in the Rgveda.
Chapter 7 - A millennium of Ratnashastra (gemmology) literature in India
17 (of 85)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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VII-16
time, the Indians were familiar with the spinel ruby mines of
Badakshan. These mines remained famous for more than a mille-
nnium. In 1315, Thakkar Pheru wrote:
啶呧い啶苦い啷囙啶� 啶呧啷嵿え啶苦さ啶班啶� 啶侧ぞ啶� 啶ㄠ啶︵啶膏ぞ啶� 啶︵啶多
( [atiteja岣� agnivar峁嘺 l膩la na峁僤akhas膩tha de艣e
(] RYP.104)
At that time, spinel ruby was known as 1al. At times, ruby (9),
spinel ruby (8), hyacinth variety of Zircon (7) and hessonite
variety of garnt (74), appeared to have similar reddish yellow
colour, but these could be easily distinguished from one another
by scratch tests since their hardness values (given in paren-
thesis) are different.
Indranila or sapphire was known to the Indians as a
different category of gem-mineral (AS 2.11.31), but we know
now, that this is blue corundum (Vide table VII-2). According
to Buddhabhatta (RP 195-196; also supported in GP 1.72.17-18
and MM 405), a sapphire in which the colours of the rainbow
sparkle is an indranila, and the one which turns the milk in a
bowl blue, is a mahanila. The Agastimata however labels the
cond variety as indranila (AM 268), the sapphires from Sri Lanka-
mahanila and the rest of the sapphires from other sources as
plain nilas. Utpala, mentioned in Arthasastra and Manim膩l膩, is
greenish blue and could be aquamarine rather than sapphire.
The Ratnasastra texts described indranila occurring in
different shades of blue, and we know to-day that sapphire can be
deep-blue, the most admired tone being 'intense cornflower-blue'.
Sapphire could be whitish blue leuco-sapphire or somanaka (RP 219;
GP 1.74.3) or possess a yellowish tinge ('Oriental topaz').We have
already mentioned that sapphire is slightly harder than ruby (Bauer
1968:282).The word'sapphire came from the old Arabic (also Hebrew)
sapeer'meaning 'to scratch"
to scratch'
, some thing which is hard.Its hardness
