著者

山田 智輝

出版者

日本印度学仏教学会

雑誌

印度學佛教學研究

巻号頁・発行日

vol.65, no.2, pp.762-758, 2017

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<p>Wilhelm Rau (1974) comprehensively discussed metals in Vedic literature. (Rau, <i>Metalle und Metallgeräte im vedischen Indien</i>, 1974) </p><p>In this paper, focusing especially on the base metals "<i>áyas-</i>," I investigate their usage in every stage of Vedic literature, referring widely to recent studies.</p><p>In the RV, <i>áyas-</i> is solely used as a general term for the base metals and there is no reference to its concrete name. In the stage of the Atharvaveda, <i>áyas-</i> is divided into two types, "black" (<i>śyāmá-</i>) and "red" (<i>lóhita-</i>), and other base metals like tin "<i>trapú-</i>" or lead "<i>sī́sa-</i>" become known. The situation in the YS^mis almost the same, however, the word <i>lohá-</i>, the substantive for copper, is first used in a passage of the VS and TS. </p><p>A pair of passages in the black YS^p (KS and MS) suggestively tells the property of pure copper; its high thermal conductivity. In the stage of ŚB, <i>áyas-</i> is no longer classified by color, and on the other hand, we can determine that it<i> </i>connotes specifically iron in some passages.</p>