The Early History Of Gold In India

Despite the magnitude of the discovery, there has never been a full scale study of the gold artifacts uncovered from a number of sites in India. An attempt has been made to reveal the importance of these archaeological discoveries through proper investigation and research. Besides a general discussion on the types of gold objects found, observations have been made on the techniques of gold ornaments in prehistoric and early historic India. The discoveries of the Indo-Greek, Kushan, Roman, and Gupta gold coins indicate the extensive use of the metal in the early historic period. The literary data suggest an abundance, and a wide diversity of gold and gold objects, which is not even remotely matched by the archaeological data. The present work analyses the relevant literary data and emphasizes virtually all important aspects of the Indian and foreign literary allusions to Indian gold. The geology of gold has been exhaustively presented. A detailed consideration of the geological data throws interesting light on the number of areas and ways in which the metal concerned could be obtained. Thus, the present work is an attempt at integration of data of all kinds on the early history of gold in India. The author has tried to bring out a basic history pattern by a systematic and critical evaluation of the available geological, archaeological and literary data.