Chapter 13 - Superintendent of Gold in the Goldsmiths’ Office

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

In order to manufacture gold and silver jewellery, each being kept apart, the superintendent of gold shall have a goldsmiths’ office (akṣaśālā)^[1] consisting of four rooms and one door.

In the centre of the high road a trained, skilful goldsmith^[2] of high birth and of reliable character shall be appointed to hold his shop.

Jāmbūnada,^[3] that which is the product of the river Jambu; Śātakumbha,^[4] that which is extracted from the mountain of Śatakumba; Hāṭaka,^[5] that which is extracted from the mines known as Hāṭaka; Vaiṇava,^[6] that which is the product of the mountain Veṇu; and Śṛṅgaśūktija,^[7] that which is extracted from Śṛṅgaśūkti (?) are the varieties of gold.

(Gold may be obtained) either pure or amalgamated with mercury or silver, or alloyed with other impurities as mine gold (ākarodgata).

That which is of the colour of the petals of lotus, ductile, glossy, incapable of making any continuous sound (anādi)^[8] and glittering is the best; that which is reddish yellow (raktapīta) is of middle quality; and that which is red is of low quality.

Impure gold is of whitish colour. It shall be fused with lead of four times the quantity of the impurity. When gold is rendered brittle owing to its contamination with lead, it shall be heated with dry cow-dung (śuṣkapaṭala).^[9] When it splits into pieces owing to hardness, it shall be drenched (after heating) into oil mixed with cow-dung^[10] (taila-gomaye).

Mine gold which is brittle owing to its contamination with lead shall be heated wound round with cloth (pākapatrāṇi^[11] kṛtvā); and hammered on a wooden anvil. Or it may be drenched in the mixture made of mushroom and vajrakhaṇḍa (Antiquorum).

Tutthodgata,^[12] that which is extracted from the mountain Tuttha; gauḍika,^[13] that which is the product of the country known as Gauḍa; kāmbuka,^[14] that which is extracted from the mountain Kambu; and cākravālika,^[14] that which is extracted from the mountain Cakravāla are the varieties of silver.

Silver which is white, glossy, and ductile is the best; and that which is of the reverse quality is bad.

Impure silver shall be heated with lead of one-fourth the quantity of the impurity.

That which becomes full of globules, white, glowing, and of the colour of curd is pure.

When the streak of pure gold (made on touchstone) is of the colour of turmeric, it is termed suvarṇa. When from one to sixteen kākaṇis of gold in a suvarṇa (of sixteen māṣakas) are replaced by from one to sixteen kākaṇis of copper, so that the copper is inseparably alloyed with the whole mass of the remaining quantity of the gold, the sixteen varieties (carats) of the standard of the purity of gold (ṣoḍaśavarṇakā^[15]) will be obtained.

Having first made a streak with suvarṇa on a touchstone, then (by the side of the streak) a streak with a piece of the gold (to be compared with it) shall be made.

Whenever a uniform streak made on the even surface of a touchstone can be wiped off or swept away, or when the streak is due to the sprinkling of any glittering powder (gairika) by the nail on touchstone, then an attempt for deception can be inferred.

If, with the edge of the palm dipped in a solution of vermilion (jātihiṅguluka) or of sulphate of iron (puṣpakāsīsa)^[16] in cow’s urine, gold (suvarṇa) is touched, it becomes white.

A touchstone with soft and shining splendour is the best. The touchstone of the Kāliṅga country with the colour of green beans is also the best. A touchstone of even or uniform colour is good in sale or purchase (of gold). That which possesses the colour of an elephant, tinged with green colour and capable of reflecting light (pratirāgi) is good in selling gold. That which is hard, durable, and of uneven colour and not reflecting light, is good for purchasers (krayahita). That which is grey, greasy, of uniform colour, soft, and glossy is the best.

That (gold) which, when heated, keeps the same colour (tāpo bahirantaśca sama), is as glittering as tender sprouts, or of the colour of the flower of kāraṇḍaka (?) is the best.

That which is black or blue (in gold) is the impurity (aprāptaka).

We shall deal with the balance and weights under the “Superintendent of Weights and Measures” (Chap. XIX, Book II). In accordance with the instructions given thereunder silver and gold (rūpyasuvarṇa)^[17] may be given in exchange.

No person who is not an employee shall enter the goldsmiths’ office. Any person who so enters shall be beheaded (ucchedya).

Any workman who enters the office with gold or silver shall have to forfeit the same.

Goldsmiths who are engaged to prepare various kinds of ornaments, such as kāñcana (pure gold), pṛṣita (hollow ornaments), tvaṣṭṛ (setting gems in gold) and tapanīya,^[18] as well as blowers and sweepers, shall enter into or exit from the office after their person and dress are thoroughly examined. All of their instruments, together with their unfinished work, shall be left where they have been at work. That amount of gold which they have received and the ornamental work which they were doing shall be put in the centre of the office. (Finished articles) shall be examined both morning and evening and be locked up with the seal of both the manufacturer and the superintendent, (kārayitṛ), the owner getting the articles prepared.

Kṣepaṇa, guṇa, and kṣudra are three kinds of ornamental work.

Setting jewels (kāca, glass bead) in gold is termed kṣepaṇa.

Thread making or string making is called guṇa.

Solid work (ghana), hollow work (suṣira), and the manufacture of globules furnished with a rounded orifice is what is termed kṣudra, low or ordinary work.

For setting jewels in gold, five parts of kāñcana (pure gold) and ten parts of gold alloyed with four parts of copper or silver shall be the required quantity (māna).

Here the pure gold shall be preserved from the impure gold.

For setting jewels in hollow ornaments (pṛṣitakāca karmaṇa), three parts of gold to hold the jewel and four parts for the bottom (shall be the required quantity).

For the work of tvaṣṭṛ,^[19] copper and gold shall be mixed in equal quantities.

For silver articles, either solid or hollow, silver may be mixed with half of the amount of gold; or by making use of the powder or solution of vermilion, gold equal to one-fourth the amount of silver of the ornament may be painted (vāsayet) on it.

Pure and glittering gold is tapanīya. This combined with an equal quantity of lead and heated with rock salt (saindhavika) to melting point under dry cow-dung becomes the basis of gold alloys of blue, red, white, yellow (harita), parrot, and pigeon colours.

The colouring ingredient of gold is one kākaṇi of tīkṣṇa^[20] which is of the colour of the neck of a peacock, tinged with white, and which is dazzling and full of copper (pītapūrṇita).^[21]

Pure or impure silver (tāra) may be heated four times with asthituttha^[22] (copper sulphate mixed with powdered bone), again four times with an equal quantity of lead, again four times with dry copper sulphate (śuṣkatuttha^[23]), again three times in skull (kapāla^[24]), and lastly twice in cow-dung. Thus the silver acted upon seventeen times by tuttha (ṣodaśatutthātikrānta^[25]) and lastly heated to white light with rock salt may be made to alloy with suvarṇa^[26] to the extent of from one kākaṇi to two māṣas. Then the suvarṇa attains white colour and is called śveta-tāra.

When three parts of tapanīya (pure gold) are melted with thirty-two parts of śveta-tāra, the compound becomes reddish white (śvetalohitaka). When three parts of tapanīya are combined with thirty-two parts of copper, the compound becomes yellow (pita, red!), Also when three parts of the colouring ingredient (rāgatribhāga, i.e. ṭīkṣṇa referred to above) are heated with tapanīya, the compound becomes yellowish red (pīta). When two parts of śveta-tāra and one part of tapanīya are heated, the whole mass becomes as green as mudga (Phraseolus mungo). When tapanīya is drenched in a solution of half the quantity of black iron (kālāyasa), it becomes black.^[27]

When tapanīya is twice drenched in (the above) solution mixed with mercury (rasa), it acquires the colour of the feathers of a parrot.^[28]

Before these varieties of gold are put to use, their test streak shall be taken on touchstone. The process of assaying ṭikṣṇa and copper shall be well understood. Hence the various counterweights (avaneyimāna.) used in weighing diamonds, rubies, pearls, corals, and coins (rūpa), as well as the proportional amount of gold and silver necessary for various kinds of ornaments can be well understood.

Uniform in colour, equal in the colour of test streak to the standard gold, devoid of hollow bulbs, ductile (sthira), very smooth, free from alloys, pleasing when worn as an ornament, not dazzling though glittering, sweet in its uniformity of mass, and pleasing the mind and eyes—these are the qualities of tapanīya, pure gold.^[29]

[Thus ends Chapter XIII, “The Superintendent of Gold in the Goldsmiths’ Office,” in Book II, “The Duties of Government Superintendents” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. End of thirty-fourth chapter from the beginning.]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“akṣaśāleti suvarṇādiparikarmāvasthānasya saṃjña”.—Akṣaśālā is a name of the chamber in which the artistic work of gold and other metals is carried out.—Com.

[2]:

The duties of the state goldsmith will be treated of in the next chapter; it is only to point out the subordination of the goldsmith to the superintendent of gold, mention of his shop is made here. His duty is to help the people in selling and purchasing gold, silver and jewels.—Com.

[3]:

This is of the colour of rose-apple, and is available only to angels.—Com.

[4]:

This is of the colour of petals of a lotus flower.—Com.

[5]:

This is of the colour of the flower of Vitex trifolia.—Com.

[6]:

This has the colour of the flower of Karnikara (Acerifolium) or of Cassia fistula.—Com.

[7]:

This has the colour of red arsenic.—Com.

[8]:

Others read “anunadi,” meaning “sounding for a long time.”—Com.

[9]:

Dry cow-dung collected from forest tracts.—Com.

[10]:

Others think that this treatment holds good only with gold alloyed with silver or mercury.—Com.

[11]:

Tantupatrāṇi, leaves made of thread.—Com.

[12]:

This has the colour of the flower of jasminum.—Com.

[13]:

This has the colour of the flower of agaru, aloe.—Com.

[14]:

These two are of the colour of the flower of kunda, a kind of jasmine.—Com.

[15]:

These sixteen together with the suvarṇa from seventeen varieties (carats),—Com.

[16]:

Puṣpakāsīsa is sulphate of iron mixed with vermilion.—Com.

[17]:

This may mean a paṇa of silver of sixteen māṣakas.—Trans.

[18]:

Tapanīya—ghaṭanīya, pure gold prepared for ornamental work.—Com.

[19]:

A goldsmith preparing solid ornaments and setting gems in gold.—Com.

[20]:

“ṭīkṣṇām lohaviśeṣa”.—Ṭīkṣṇa is a kind of metal.—Com.

[21]:

Ṭīkṣṇa is probably copper sulphate.—Trans.

[22]:

An earthen crucible mixed with powdered bone.—Com.

[23]:

A crucible made of Katasarkara, a kind of clay.—Com.

[24]:

A crucible of pure clay (śuddha mṛttikā).—Com.

[25]:

Thus fused seventeen times in seventeen crucibles.—Com.

[26]:

The coin known as karṣa of silver, rupyakarsha.—Com.

[27]:

Others say that when each of the three of thirty-two parts of tapanīya, purified gold, is replaced by thirty-two parts of śveta-tāra, the resulting compound becomes reddish white.—Com.

[28]:

“Pratilepinā rasena dviguṇābhyaktam tapanīyam śukapatravarṇam bhavati. Dravīkritabalana kṛṣṇayaseneti kecit. Tenaiva hiṅgulakasahitenetyapare. Rasena, pāradena.”

Some say, “with melted black iron”; others say, “with melted black iron mixed with vermilion.” With Rasa, with mercury.—Com.

[29]:

In śoka-metre.