We were so advanced.............
Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 BC):
Pottery:
It could be regarded as the earliest chemical process in which
materials were mixed, moulded and fired to achieve desirable qualities.
Thousands of pieces of pottery were found in the Rajasthan desert,
varied in shape, size and colour. They show that prehistoric people knew
the art of making pottery by using burnt clay. Coloured and wheel made
pottery was found at Harappa. Pottery was decorated with various designs
including geometric and floral patterns as well as human and animals
figures. Remains of glazed pottery were also found at Mohenjodaro.
Bricks: Burnt bricks were manufactured on a large scale for making houses, drains, boundary walls, public bath etc.
Cement:
Gypsum cement had been used in the construction of a well in
Mohenjodaro. It was light grey and contained sand, clay, traces of
calcium carbonate and lime.
Minerals:
The Indus valley people used a number of minerals for a variety of
useful products such as medicinal preparations, plasters, hair washes
etc. Faience, which is a sort of proto-glass, was quite popular with the
Harappans and was used for ornaments. They also smelted and forged a
variety of objects from lead, silver, gold, and copper; and also used
tin and arsenic to improve the hardness of copper for making artefacts.
Chemical Arts and Crafts in Later Periods
Glass
making, pottery, jewellery making, dyeing of clothes and tanning of
leather etc. were the major chemical arts and crafts in the early
periods. As a result of this expanded activity, the alchemical knowledge
increased. Following were the major chemical products that contributed
to the development of chemistry.
Glass:
Glass is a fused solid mixture of a number of substances like lime,
sand, alkali and metallic oxides. It is of various kinds - transparent,
opaque, coloured and colourless. No glass objects were found at the
sites of the Indus valley civilization, except for some glazed and
faience articles. A number of such glass objects were found at Maski in
south India (1000-900BC) , Hastinapur and Taxila (1000-200BC). In this
period glass and glazes were coloured by the addition of colouring
agents like metal oxides. Ramayana, Brhatsamhita, Kautilya's Arthasatra
and Sukranitisara mention the use of glass. There is ample evidence to
suggest that ancient India glass making was quite widespread and a high
degree of perfection was achieved in this craft. There was a traditional
glass factory at Kopia in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. Glass slag
was found at Kolhapur, Nevasa, Paunar and Maheshwar. Glass furnaces of
late medieval period were found at Mysore. The Mughal period
(AD1526-1707) saw the flourishing of the art of glass making in India.
Paper:
From the Chinese traveller I-tsing's account it appears that paper was
known to India in the seventh century AD. In the beginning the process
of papermaking was simple and more or less similar in all parts of the
country. The main centers of paper making in medieval India were
Sialkot, Zafarbad, Murshidabad, Ahmedabad, Mysore etc.
Soap:
For washing clothes ancient Indians used certain plants and their
fruits like the soap nuts of Ritha and Sikakai. Fruits like Sriphala and
Sarsapa (Brassica compestris) were also used to wash different kinds of
clothes. Guru Nanak's prayer written in the late sixteenth century AD
contains the earliest reference to soap. There were references to soap
like substances called Phenaka in the second and third century AD texts
like Manusmrti and Yajnavalkyasmrti. Indians definitely began to make
proper soaps in the eighteenth century AD. In Gujarat, the oil of Eranda
(Ricinus communis), seeds of plant Mahua (Madhuca indica) and impure
calcium carbonate were used by them. These were used for washing but
gradually soft soaps for bathing were made.
Dyeing:
Plants and their products like madder, turmeric and safflower were the
principal dyeing materials. Orpiment and some insects like lac,
cochineal and kermes were the other materials used for dyeing. A number
of classical texts like Atharvaveda (1000 BC) mentioned some dye stuffs.
Dyes were extracted from inorganic substances by repeatedly soaking and
mixing them in water and allowing the materials to settle. Then the
solution was taken out and spread on a pot and evaporated to get the dry
dye. Some other substances having tinting properties were Kampillaka
(Mallotus phillippinesis), Pattanga (Cesalpinia sappan) and Jatuka (a
species of Oldenlandia). A large number of other materials were also
used for dyeing. Synthetic dyes were made by mid-nineteenth century.
Cosmetics
and Perfumes: A large number of references to cosmetics and perfumes in
Sanskrit literature were found like in Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira.
Cosmetics and perfumes making were mainly practised for the purpose of
worship, sale and sensual enjoyment. The Bower Manuscript (Navanitaka)
contained recipes of hair dyes which consisted of a number of plants
like indigo and minerals like iron powder, black iron or steel and
acidic extracts of sour rice gruel. Gandhayukti gave recipes for making
scents. It gives a list of eight aromatic ingredients used for making
scents. They were: Rodhara, Usira, Bignonia, Aguru, Musta, Vana ,
Priyangu, and Pathya. The Gandhayukti also gave recipes for mouth
perfumes, bath powders, incense and talcum powder. The manufacture of
rose water began perhaps in the nineteenth century AD.
Ink:
An inkpot was unearthed during the excavations at Taxila, which
suggests that ink was known and used in India from fourth century BC.
The Ajanta caves displayed some inscriptions that were written with
coloured ink, made from chalk, red lead and minium. Chinese, Japanese
and Indians had used Indian ink for quite a long time. The recipe for
ink was also given in Rasaratnakara of Nityanatha. The ink made from
nuts and myrobalans kept in water in an iron pot was black and durable.
This ink was used in Malabara and other parts of the country as well.
Special ink prepared from roasted rice, lampblack, sugar and the juice
of plant Kesurte (Verbsina scandens) was used in the Jain manuscripts.
Ink was made both in liquid and solid forms, by using lampblack, gum of
the plant Mimosa indica and water in the nineteenth century. Tannin's
solution became dark blue-black or greenish by the addition of ferric
salts and it seems that this fact was known to Indians during late
medieval period, and they used this solution for ink making.
Alcoholic
liquors: Somarasa, which was mentioned in the Vedas, was probably the
earliest evidence of the use of intoxicants in India. Kautilya's
Arthasastra listed a variety of liquors such as Medaka, Prasanna, Asava,
Arista, Maireya and Madhu. Caraka Samhita also mentioned sources for
making various Asavas: cereals, fruits, roots, woods, flowers, stems,
leaves, barks of plants and sugar cane. About 60 Tamil names were found
in Sangam literature, which suggest that liquors were brewed in south
India since the ancient times. Medieval alchemical texts also mentioned
fermented liquors and their methods of preparation. Alcoholic liquors
were classified into the following categories depending on their
applications in alchemical operations:
Dasanapasani Sura: used in dyeing operations
Sarvacarani Sura: used in mixing operations of all kinds
Dravani Sura: used in dissolving substances
Ranjani Sura: used in dyeing operations
Rasabandhani Sura: used in binding mercury
Rasampatani Sura: used in distillation of mercury
Susruta-Samhita
used the word khola for alcoholic beverages; perhaps the modern word
alcohol is derived from it. A large number of alcoholic preparations
were described in various texts.
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